The painting room: Where artworks are created
The studio is a curious shape-shifting space, changing from artist to artist
1/7
Dahisar, Mumbai
I have kept my painting studio separate from my sculpture studio, where a lot of dust from the wood work accumulates. I have developed the space architecturally, physically, and at the same time created a camaraderie with many of the people who occupy that space along with me—assistants, carpenters, carvers. It is about comfort, and not just about the physical aspect. In my painting studio, I work alone with inspiring Sufi music playing in the background.
2/7
DLF Phase 1, Gurugram
It’s hardly a decision for me to go down to my basement every day. One may sit in comfortable rooms and talk ideas, but they have to fructify. Art has to… materialise. My studio isn’t a tidy salon. But it’s here that I come alive, forget my aches and pains. I stand for hours. There are certain compulsions in the work. The canvas talks to you. It’s an intense dialogue. You find it unusual that I use empty whisky cases to house my brushes? Maybe the other painters don’t drink any whisky [laughs]. If they did, they’d paint better!
3/7
Dahisar, Mumbai
Life itself is art. Space means nothingness. To find forms within nothingness is your ability. You create your own eyes. You invent form, colour and texture. You invent from nothingness. Space, according to me, is nothingness. And the darkest space is almost like the pupil of your eye. It reflects the maximum. The darkness—you can call it emptiness, formlessness, a state of meditativeness. Indian philosophy says Aham Bramhāsmiti. Self-realisation is the ultimate element. And darkness is tamaso mā jyotirgamaya, which I always said in my writings—it carries all kinds of light within. If you understand the language of nothingness, you understand life. Even a blind person imagines by touching the darkness.
_20170317110106_930x584.jpg "JOGEN CHOWDHURYSouth City, KolkataFor a long time, this studio has been in repose, just like its big")
4/7
South City, Kolkata
For a long time, this studio has been in repose, just like its bigger counterpart in Shantiniketan. My carpe-diemist self has always encouraged me to wrest something ‘extraordinary’ out of the ordinariness of living. I paint in leisure. I paint when I am happy. I paint when I am sad. And each time, I rejoice in attaining something new, almost finding a new self, and I rejoice at the profound mysteries that are yet to be unveiled. Old age does not stop me. So I paint, and I get more of life. Art for life’s sake, you can say.
5/7
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
My studio is a reflection of my artworks: A little of the space filled in, a lot of it left empty. This place houses my collection of traditional and folk art (points to a leather puppet from Andhra and a bhoota figure from Mangaluru on the far wall of the studio) which I have been collecting since childhood. These artworks inspire me and appear in my work too. A lot of times, I have an idea and can’t grasp it physically. But once I’ve chosen a medium to express it and start working at it, there’s always a point where I lose myself and an energy takes over; and with it, this sense of being just a medium.
6/7
Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
This space where I create my works also doubles up as my office as the head of the Department of Art at Triveni Kala Sangam where I teach. I don’t work in isolation like a lot of artists do. It’s essential that I have all this life around me, these students working in the other rooms down the corridor, the interruptions. Yet, amidst all this, I am an introvert. These works of mine result from scratching the canvas meticulously, for hours, for weeks, for months. Or from experimenting with chemicals and layering transparent surfaces. I spend the day here, and return after dinner to work until midnight every day.
7/7
Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
Space is everything. And controlling space is our main problem as artists. When we lived in a smaller house in Chikkadpally [a locality in central Hyderabad], I would be painting in the room and my wife and kids did their chores around me. Our family is used to it, but such an arrangement doesn’t suit everybody. Having an individual space to work in is very important. I too have tried to operate from a studio space away from home. But I have had to start working from home again. The reason is that many of my earlier canvasses were small in size and I could comfortably work on them while sitting. Now I paint on bigger canvasses and the constant bending has been causing severe back pain. So I need to take long breaks in between work.
More Photo Gallery
X