Biplabi Samaddar’s Instagram page contains a fairly interesting tagline: ‘Rediscover art to a decade of quiet reflection’. It makes one wonder what an artist is: one stops being called one if it doesn’t actively paint in a studio daily? Does the Spirit stop imagining different configurations of observations that have been soaked over time? It is with these questions that one is approaching Samaddar, a former educator at Delhi Public School, RK Puram, Delhi, and once a resident of Garhi Studios. The Septuagenarian moved to a village near Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, a decade ago. However, earlier this year, his family decided to start an Instagram page for his art practice. This archive project has served a two-fold goal-for his loved ones to discover more about his artistic journey and also establish a link between an individual practice and the broader evolution of modern and contemporary art in India. His recent series, Open Fields, is the meditations of Samaddar on abstraction and figuration. Geometric lines and tonal shifts elicit memories of lush fields and rural sites. “The work stands as proof of a lifelong pursuit of form, art, space and emotion,” says the accompanying note. I find the format interesting – unlike the horizontal framework associated with landscapes, he chose a vertical one as the best expression of his idea. Memory and landscapes intertwined in his work. ‘Floods and droughts are still a part of life. And when it occurs, the footage of nature changes. I saw a pattern, a design, almost like a logo, that was pressed on the landscape. I tried to capture it in the structure – to articulate the extent of the devastation over an expanse, ‘says Samaddar. He also finds the classification of art as abstract or figurative futile. The viewer does not have to be injured by such demarcation and technical aspects. It’s like burdening a music enthusiast with details of notations, rhythm and notes and not leaving the composition to their interpretation. “For me, nothing is abstract – it understands something or can’t understand it,” he adds. While his painting ritual has not changed over the decades – ‘the cultivation of visual sensitivity is on’, he says – the group has expanded information and observations in him. “The spirit can interpret, edit memories to create expressions. There may be a single or multiple focal points in visual expression. Flashbacks occur, but everything is edited. This is where the individual stamp of representation takes place,” says Samaddar. The attempt by Samaddar with Art carries prints of many influences – from the rural Bengal in his childhood to the drawings of his mother and his interaction with KG Subramanyan at Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. “My mother has kept an art copy with her all her life. Her pencil drawings were quite academic and the lines were very delicate. Her degree VIII teacher must have pulled on the board and she might have copied it. She did not study any further, ‘he reminds. The copy, dating from the 1930s, is populated with drawings of human eyes from different angles. However, her involvement in art did not end with her school years. She would also make Alpana with crushed rice and water on special occasions. “It was my initiation in the world of visual representation. I remember my visit to the Dolls Museum and different historical monuments in Delhi. I think my interest in art and design stems from this,” says Samaddar. Later, the years that spent at Msu Baroda between 1977 and 1979 expanded his mind. He would spend hours in the library and have found the Department of Art History and Critical impressive. For his thesis, he conducted a comparative study of the Bombay Progressive Group and the Bengal School. “I had a lot of interaction with KG Subramanyan, but the most memorable one occurred when I left Baroda. He told me, ‘Remember that your best friend is your job. It will never fool you. You will return to your hometown, it can take two or three years. I’m sure something good will happen, ‘recalls Samaddar. “Kg has injected a strong will in me to face the challenges of life and to pursue my own thoughts.” It was not just peers or faculties that left a lasting impression. He experienced quiet moments of reflection and had serendipite interactions at Garhi Studios – a shared complex for artists run by Lalit Kala Akademi – and during his travels through Japan and the US, where he visited most of the contemporary art museums. “I worked with an open mind with an open mind. But deep inside, I was aware that my context and sociocultural background were different from the artists displayed there, ‘he adds. At home, the lead at Garhi became a site for experiments with visual structures, and to work with the new sociocultural context of India to independence, and to find a language that set it out. “The visual compositions have become more compact, with newer techniques of color step,” he says. About the same time, he became an educator at the DPS RK Puram – who stayed at school for 34 years. There he found a way to channel the mentorship he received from Baroda against the students at DPS. ‘My role was to help help a feeling or appreciation for art among the students. Later, many of them joined prestigious art institutions in India and abroad. After school I would go to Garhi, ‘he says. For Samaddar, none of these influences are complete without the constant internal decoration of emotions and experiences. ‘The internal chewing includes involvement in the source of inspiration and then creates a corresponding visual order. It is an act of permutation and combination. It creates an urge in me to paint. I enjoy the act then, ‘he says.
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