Nature is the trigger point for artist Chameli Ramachandran. Flowers, rivers, mountains, lakes, skies have always enchanted her right from the days spent at Shantiniketan. Born in Shantiniketan, she experienced proximity with nature which went on to have tremendous influence on her artistic practice. Though she was born Tan Yuan to Tan Yun-Shan, founder-director of Cheena Bhavan at the famed university and a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore, she was renamed Chameli, after Jasmine flower by Tagore. Her preference for the subject seems natural in this context. At Vadehra Art Gallery where the artist is showing after a gap of three years, her works in Chinese ink and watercolour portray lotuses, chrysanthemums, peonies, carnations, lilies, ferns, wild grass and landscapes.
In the world of contemporary art where conceptual art is the buzz word, such art is a rarity. Steeped in simplicity, it borrows from everything beautiful around us. “The world is beautiful. Nature is an integral part of man’s life. I wonder why we fight, why we destroy such beautiful things like the Palmyra temple in Syria. But I can’t paint all that,” says Chameli.
The works which comprise ‘Nirmalya’ were created in Canada, where she goes every year with her painter husband A. Ramachandran to escape Delhi and meet her daughter. The flowers, trees, ferns and grass, whatever she came across was minutely experienced, observed and painted. Their beauty and radiance is captured as it is by the deft brushstrokes of the artist, who is mindful of each and every aspect of their formation. In the detail studies of the lilies or the lotuses, each and every vein is visible and twist and turn of every leaf is intact. With a keen eye and immaculate skill, in some works, Chameli is able to detach the flower from its real form and see it as something abstract. “Yes, it becomes something more than a flower,” says Chameli revealing that luminosity achieved in her works is because of the Chinese pigments brought by her husband. “They are brilliant but not available in India. These colours are bright but not jarring. The technique of building layer upon layer with thin washes also renders it translucence,” she explains.
The subject recurs in her canvases but what has changed over the years is her treatment. The addition of extra washes of ink is new to her practice. “Earlier, my work was closer to a Chinese painting but it has gone a bit farther. My father was from China and even though he settled down in India, he didn’t give up his Chinese heritage. He wanted me to imbibe the best of Indian and Chinese civilisation.”
Nirmalya which means a pure offering is inspired by Tagore’s songs. “His love songs were almost like prayers to god. These flowers are so pure they evoke a feeling of devotion just like his songs and then flowers and trees have always been an important part of culture. Buddha got enlightened under a tree,” says Chameli. Does she visit her alma mater? “No, I feel sad because everything has changed there. We used to travel to Kerala and I often borrowed from the nature there. In Kerala the lotus flowers for puja would come wrapped in lotus leaf and I would carefully remove the leaf, keep it and study it.”
In Canada also, she carefully studied the flowers her daughter brought home. “There were some whose names I didn’t know but I nevertheless painted them.” There are tranquil morning scenes captured around Lake Placid in New York. “One morning, I got up and saw that the sky was totally orange. It seemed so close that I felt I could touch it. It was so beautiful that I had to paint it. But on my own, I can never say that this body of work is ready. It’s only when my husband who is my biggest critic says that yes, you can show it, I feel it is ready.”
(The exhibition is on at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-40, Defence Colony till September 13)
