"I ENJOY MY FREEDOM"

                           ------------------------------by Sunil Das

Sunil Das, the most versatile artist of India regrets that nobody, even no institution nor any establishment used his talents in Mural or in Fresco.

Everybody from his native town Kolkata always showed interest in his drawings and paintings only.Many art lovers have missed Sunil's great talent in mural and fresco which he nurtured for years when he was in Paris, France. In his own recollections,"I started to work on fresco at ECOLE NATIONAL SUPERIOR DE BEAURT. Art students of younger generation of Kolkata will be perplexed to know how hard I had to work for fresco classes there. A whole portion of a sidewall had to be selected for the students. We never got plain new walls. I had to always prepare the old wall for a new fresco. and the preparation? That was the very tedious part. First of all, I had to free the wall from its old plaster of lime,sand etc.to expose the brick underneath. Then, re plastering along with painting and drawing used to start. All this laborious work I had to do without anybody's help. So I started to work on portions in a day. Size of those wall used to be 30" to 40". You can imagine the volume of work of fresco or murals I had to do in those days. My these works were highly appreciated in France and in Europe, but here in my motherland nobody cared for   it."

Expressing a deep sigh he uttered,"Apart from this I've nothing to complain. As a creative person I am showered with people's love and affection."Sunil Das, at the age of 66, still have the tremendous life-force. He can engage himself at work for eight to nine hours at a stretch in a day even now. "I never get tired during work. I take rest only after the completion of the drawing or painting in which I'm engaged, whatever the time it takes to finish, I never bother about the time." This principle is being followed by him from the very beginning of his career. In the admission test of art college the teachers were struck by his electrifying performance. As a result he was directly admitted to second year of the fifth year course. He recollects,"That was an exception. I was inspired by a teacher's advice. The advice was : Draw as much as you can in a day, there is no substitute for rigorous practice. Still I follow this. In the college days I used to draw at outdoor from 7 o'clock in the morning to midnight. It was my regular routine for many years. When I was in 3rd year in the Govt. college of Art and Ccraft in Kolkata, my teachers decided to send my works to Delhi for national competition. I got national award. That was really a record set by me, which still is untouched. As a student nobody got a national award before me. In the beginning of student life I was served with little pocket money from my family. At that time as a profession art was never counted. Almost everybody used to think, an artist would never be able to get justified income. So, apart from a very few persons, everybody looked down upon people like us.But I was never at a loss, rather I had a thought. I knew if I stood first every year I'll be able to get scholarships and my monetary problems will be over. So I worked hard and stood always first in every year." 

Sunil Das was used to call as " Ghora Das"( horse das) from his student days for his fascination in the drawings of hores. Drawings of horses and bulls made him internationally famous as well as his paintings. Any ordinary art lover can recognise his horses and bulls. There's a long story behind his fascination for the drawings and paintings of these animals. "One of my teachers asked me to draw animals to develop the drawing skill. Because animals are always available undraped, so it is easier to figure drawing skills by drawing the figures of animals enormously. In student days I drew almost 5,000 drawings of horses. I spent long days and nights in the stable of Kolkata Mounted police. And when I got the first award on horse's drawing people at the stable were so happy that they took me on their shoulders and danced merrily," he laughed,"As a result of those days of hardship I became very confident in drawing figures. The bull-drawings came in the the days of abroad.

"When I was in France for training I went to Spain for a break. After having a view of the famous " bull fighting show" I got interest to draw bulls. At first it was not that good, I was not satisfied with my works. So instead of three or four days I stayed at Spain for a whole month and started to draw bulls regularly. My first 250 to 300 drawings were not satisfactory. But after some rigorous practice I achieved the required quality. Friends at Spain were also amazed to see the novel style of mine. Now I can draw any posture, any shape of bull and horse without giving much stress. It has become possible due to the enormous exercises I undertook. To the younger generation of artists I would like to declare: Practice as much as you can do. Never get tired, love the labor, pain of your workload. Success will prevail," Mr. Das insists. He has number of sweet memories of those days in France during his training period. Visiting abroad is nothing new to him. But in those days it was entirely different for him. He recalls," I had to leave Paris out of "romantic fear". You know what it is? In Paris I used to stay at the place of Madame Blance. She was so fond of me that she left an entire floor of her house for me. I can't recall exactly who introduced Madame Blance to me, but she always very generous to me. In the early days of 1960's it was really a problem to find a place to stay at the downtown Paris. I was lucky enough to got such a spacious space. Madame Blance used to call me as her "Mon petit chat" (my little cat). I was always very respectful to Blance, she was like an affectionate mother to me. But I couldn't imagine in the core of my heart that other things are being nurtured within her. In a one evening party all of a sudden she declared, I'm going to marry this guy. She started to tell everybody regarding this. I was really shocked, how can I marry someone who was like a mother to me! After rebuking her a lot I decided to leave Paris immediately. I was introduced with lot of women in Paris and in Madrid. I don't know why those women were so fond of me. Possibly they liked my paintings and art works or they have found something special which is still unknown to me." 

Women which is a very significant part in the works of Mr. Sunil Das, still haunts him. Most of his works on oil are occupied with the theme of women's exploitation by this male chauvinistic society, emancipation of women and hatred of exploited women. In his words," I always have a feeling for tortured, depredated women. Through my paintings I tried to give viewer the "eye" which would help them to reveal the truth behind the strokes of my brushes. Use your eye instead of your head, the modern painting will be easily accessible to you. I register my protest against the exploitations women are facing since early times. I expose the exploitation, sufferings of them in my way. So till now the relevance of my protest exists. As often I do the drawings of horse and bull, I paint women also. From 1959 to 2003 it has been a search fraught with experience and heartbreak." 
Sunil Das believes to enjoy his freedom always. " I work with passion and I enjoy my freedom. Freedom here means freedom of your heart, freedom of your mental state. You may like it or not. Painting are after all visual objects, and the language of painting is a system of visual signs and symbols. As an Indian artist my signs and symbols are very much Indian in design, inwardness and in vision," he firmly declares.

Galarie Sunil: Das Doesn't believe in any kind  of posthumous recognition. So he has set up a gallery which is 'Galerie Sunil' by name. It is an one room set up . The galerie is moderately spacious and capable of accomodating small exhibitions. On 8th December of 2001 the galerie was opened for art lovers. If anyone wants to make a visit there, he will be welcome to view the artist's works. But the eager viewer will have to contact the artist first. This one artist galerie is an unique concept. Usually these galleries are dedicated  to the great artists after their deaths, the most celebrated galerie in this concept is in Amsterdam on the name of Vincent Van Gogh. As Sunil Das never believe in any recognition after death, so he took the initiative to set up such a galerie. A galerie which presents the work of a living artist. Possibly it is the first galerie in the world which is dedicated to a living artist. Anybopdy can have a glimpse of the multi creative signs of his talents. Horses and bulls  were his first phase. In early sixties he entered into the world of Tantra through series of works. Those works mainly consists by cutting wood and paper burning and pasting of wood on woods.  The different phases which are being displayed here include "Heavy Impasto", "Apple", "Rotation of Mankind", "Captive", "Confrontation" etc. And as he believes," I don't draw horses regularly anymore, I have conquered them. But my recent drawings retain that energy, the confidence I had in myself." He can declare this, because he always have faith on the concept of changing forms, themes in his works. He never likes to get compartmentalized in a particular state of art-mind. This provides him the energy to constant experimentation with unique visions.

Bio-Data

Born: 1939

Education: Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta
                 Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris
                 Research in Fresco & Mosaic with Monjeur Shapple Midie & Aujum, Paris
                 Graphic Art with William Hayter and Krishna Reddy 
                 Research in Painting Atelier Julien & Atelier 17, Paris

Awards: National Award in 1959
              In 1960 awarded by Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta, 
              Hyderabad Art Society, Hyderabad, Academy of Fine Arts, Calcutta, Gold 
              Medal by Calcutta University.
              In 1978 again got the National Award

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