Beauty and danger

The first time I ‘met’ Sunil Gawde was in a bangle. His wife Usha was wearing a gorgeous gold kada that he had designed. But Gawde is not a jewellery designer, he clarifies; the piece was “a one-off that Usha carried off very well”. Gradually, with his missus becoming a friend, curiosity about the artist started growing. His body of work is indeed impressive, though published interviews with him are few and far between. He is not shy, Gawde is quick to explain, but “I am not really a good PR person.” He prefers to have a conversation on “a one-to-one basis, and I am not good at being politically correct and do not have polished social skills that are so much in trend.” 

Obvious, since “walking with trend is not me. I listen more to my inner voice, so I do make silly mistakes.” It is not about being whimsical or pricey, “That is not the problem…it is just more inside than outside.” Gawde is also a little “self centred, so social sweeteners are lacking in me.” He prefers talking about his work rather than about himself. “In fact, I actually enjoy talking about my work, my process, quite a lot, especially if it is a slide presentation or talk. It is interesting for me to get the viewer’s or listener’s point of view and then sometimes I may see my own work a little differently.” As an artist, his is “visual language, where one should need very few words. When you need to use very heavy words to support and glamorise the art, then that itself may become the art — which I don’t think I need!” After all, to Gawde, “All great things are simple, though it is not necessary that all simple things are great.” 

Gawde is in some ways better known internationally than in India. He has shown in Venice, Abu Dhabi, Taiwan, Miami, Madrid, et al, but not extensively in Mumbai. He is amused, “Yes, you are right. I was invited to show at the Venice Biennale and that was also my first kinetic piece (Alliteration, approximately two tons in weight] which they showed at the Arsenale in the show curated by Daniel Brinbaum.” This led to more exciting assignments.

“A curator in Taiwan wanted to work with me, resulting in an invitation from the government there to make a large kinetic art work in a public space as part of their High Speed Railway project. This 3.5 ton sculpture was titled Galileo and his friends left me with these moons.” One commission led to another, which led to the next: “When I was showing in Art Dubai at the Sakshi gallery booth, a curator from Paris saw my blade garland (Virtually untouchable III) there and he was pretty impressed with the work and the idea — he showed this work at the Centre Pompidou. And from there, the curator, who was curating a golf resort at Marrakesh, wanted me to be part of a project with twelve international artists and so I got busy with that.”

He does not believe that he actually can control this spreading of the word. As Gawde says, “I think I do not have control where and when to show. It has just organically happened that my work is seen more out of the country than here. I recently closed my solo at Taiwan and am showing four more solos this year, in New York, Paris, Casablanca and Marrakesh.” But one important exhibition contradicting this trend is in Mumbai at the Jehangir Nicholson gallery, Journey is the Destination featuring Zarina Hashmi, Vivan Sundaram, Atul and Anju Dodiya, Sudhir Patwardhan, Baiju Parthan and Gawde. “Good company to be in, I think!” On display is the artist’s Like in Love Perhaps (2011), a section of spiral staircase studded with spiky nails, each stabbing through the heart of a red rose. It would obviously have involved a great deal of thought, effort, time and some pain, as Gawde describes it, “I do not have the capacity to produce a lot of work, as each of my work demands time, heck of a lot of research, material sourcing, etc. Most times, the idea itself dictates the material and then I am the slave!” 

The roses are an apt representation of Gawde’s belief that beauty and danger coexist. “Beauty is one part of my inspiration, but when I want to talk about duality, this is a very apt combination. Of course, all beautiful things are not lethal and all dangerous things are also not beautiful. But the human mind has certain patterns; the way of processing depends on experience. So much is taken for granted — can a butterfly be lethal? On the surface, no.

To me it is the most beautiful, naive creature, born for love, and after spreading visual pleasure it disappears from life.” Gawde created “a visually beautiful butterfly, but its wings are razor blades and its body is a steel dagger.

From a distance it looks very beautiful and tactile, but close up you realise with a shock what it is made of. So beauty can be or is a very strong weapon.”

He has said that his work aims to bridge the gap between perception and reality. And he does ‘science-based sculptural creations’ that have to be aesthetically perfect and are born of a skilful combination of engineering and art. Where does this process begin from — reality, his perception of it, science or art? “An idea doesn’t make art. When you want to share, you need to manifest it physically, where medium and logic play very important roles. I believe it is the backbone of everything — every day you have several ideas born in your mind, but the real ‘idea’ is only that which gives you sleepless nights till you have no choice but to manifest it.” To make it real, he uses very basic science, not high-tech engineering, all catalysed by “memories, nostalgia, personal philosophy, desire, beauty, offbeat experience, surprises, human elements, discovery, amusement — all said and done, LIFE itself”. 

Life itself for Gawde has indeed been interesting. He left home fairly young to ‘find’ himself, going on the Pandharpur pilgrimage, a journey that can last twenty-one days and cover 250 kilometres. “That was my very best period, with no baggage, no expectations, just an honest internal journey, asking my conscience about truth and life. I was very close to myself, without any tags, without any judgmental people around me, with nothing to lose and hence no fear.” Now perhaps he is “lost in this human jungle” — while people believe he has achieved something, Gawde himself feels that he has “lost my freedom. I hope some time soon the power above should take me there. That is ultimate bliss for me.” 

The author is a Mumbai-based senior journalist