A symphony of sand and colours

Mumbai, Nov 18 (PTI) A child labourer, unable to afford colours and brushes, made the vast shores of Odisha’s Puri beach his drawing book, and today, as a celebrated sand artist, Sudarsan Pattnaik has brought the tough medium onto the canvas, which was once out of his reach.

In his latest exhibit, being held at the Pu La Deshpande Kala Academy in Mumbai, the Padma Shri awardee pays tribute to nature in more than 50 mixed-media installations, using the rare technique of merging paints and sand.

Blues, yellows, and earth tones dominate his works, which feature a compelling interplay of texture with sand and tissue paper.

“I have attempted a ‘jugalbandi’ of sand and colours. I wanted to merge both these worlds, my past and present,” says Pattnaik, who is known the world over for his spectacular sand sculptures on Puri beach.

Recalling his tryst with sand, the 48-year-old artist told PTI that as a 10-year-old child labourer, he would spend his meagre earnings on colours and brushes. But he was unable to sustain the habit, and soon, the sand on Puri beach caught his eye, and there was no turning back.

“I studied only till Class 5. At a time when I should have carried a school bag, I was forced to earn a living working for someone," Pattnaik rues.

But he found solace in art, and the shores of Odisha became his open canvas. Battling the elements, he created some of his most stunning transient and ephemeral works, whether paying tribute to prominent personalities or spreading awareness about issues plaguing society at large.

However, the actual canvas beckoned in recent years following requests from his fans. “They wanted to carry some of my work with them. Even Sudha Murthy, who lauded my efforts, pointed this out,” he says.

“The entire world of art runs on installations now. I felt I must leave a legacy behind, something that people will remember me by,” Pattnaik explains.

In this exhibition - his first in Mumbai - Pattnaik has strived to bring permanence to his creativity, using a combination of acrylic, sand, and tissue paper to highlight nature in all its glory and the issue of climate change.

“I created 55 mixed-media canvases in the last seven to eight years. While it takes me just one or two days to make sand sculptures, these paintings are a result of years of introspection and thought. I even dreamt about them before bringing them out on canvas,” he says.

Water, animals, fish and trees converge on Pattnaik’s bright canvases, which tell stories of manmade creations destroying the planet and depict the sea as a nurturing presence.

“I consider the sea as mother, large-hearted and giving,” he says, adding that his works must invoke the same emotions in his viewers as he felt while creating them.

Some of Pattnaik’s powerful canvases include ‘Cycle of Destruction’, which shows the effects of plastic on animals, ‘The Silent Swimmer’, depicting a lone turtle swimming in the spiralling vortex of the sea, and ‘Spirit of the Sea’, which shows a face rising from waves lashing the shores.

The award-winning sand master says his works are one-of-a-kind, born out of intense meditation on the subject, with the emotions flowing directly onto the canvas.

“Even I can’t recreate these. I won’t be able to make a second copy. Whoever acquires these will have a one-of-a-kind creation,” says the artist, who plans to put 15 of his works up for sale here.

Pattnaik believes art should touch people’s souls, teach them, and convey the message of positivity.

“I don’t know how many such paintings I can make. But I want my work to inspire people for the next 100 years,” he says.

Pattnaik’s paintings are on display in Mumbai from November 18 to 23. PTI ARU VT