Painter Laxma Goud and ceramicist Adil Warrier draw a new narrative with their exhibition In Collaboration. Ornella D'Souza takes a look
After taking a hiatus from showcasing artworks to set up its auction house, Pundole Art Gallery reopens with In Collaboration, an exhibition of glazed, mostly soda fired ceramics and bronze sculptures by painter and printmaker Laxma Goud and architect turned ceramicist Adil Writer.
Intricate stoneware masks alongside their limited edition bronze reproductions allow comparison in weight and texture. Then, there are the shield forms everywhere, spinning cubes reminiscent of Tibetan prayer wheels, treasure boxes and 'love' boxes in earthy tones. The objects, with line drawings and paintings of bodacious women, lovemaking scenes, mingling elements from rural India and new age technology, tease the viewer to form new interpretations. Smooth and coarse surfaces are interrupted by fragments, wrinkles, cracks, scribbles and etchings so temptingly tactile, your hands yearn to touch them. And touch them you can.
"I like it when people touch my clay works. Gallerists worry they may fall and break, (but) how else are people supposed to experience clay?" asks Writer.
Most of the ceramic pieces are forms Writer is known for, and the drawings and masks are courtesy Goud, a Padma Shri awardee. The exact purpose of the merger? Letting go of ideas and techniques to imbibe and produce new aesthetic.
Goud, who previously worked with terracotta, visited Writer at his unit in Auroville, Mandala Pottery, last year, to experience stoneware. The two hit it off and Goud soon returned to create more artworks. "I only practice because I love to work in clay but Adil is the potter, the ceramicist. He is known internationally in the ceramic community. I told him that if he is interested in an exhibition, I would participate in it," says Goud.
Coincidentally, gallery owner Dadiba Pundole is known to both. Writer would source artworks from Pundole Art Gallery for his architectural projects and Goud is represented by this gallery and also knew Dadiba's father, Kali Pundole. So the exhibition fell in place seamlessly.
Within four months of Goud visiting his studio, Writer began to see the change in his art and drawings. "Laxmaji goaded me and brought alive my drawings onto clay, something I had not attempted before. For instance, The nude iKing & iQueen sculpture with iPhone in hand with actual Apple cables connecting the two, is Laxmaji's direct influence."
The only recurring disagreement in the otherwise smooth collaboration was on food, laughs Writer. "I wanted to treat him to varied Auroville restuarants, but Laxmaji was fine with dal and rice in the studio," adding, "He was open to my telling him what is not going to work. I could say, 'This light stain is not going to show up post-firing, use it thicker' or 'That will crack up and open in the firing'."
Even Goud's dedication to his art put the workholic Writer to shame. "Everyday, whenever he had a little spare time, Laxmaji would sit with his sketchbook and draw, draw, draw. A learning for me that you don't stop drawing because you've become famous."
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