Art of Animesh Roy: Paintings 2015

Animesh Time Lapse

Portrait of an Artist... Interaction with Bharti Sharma

Portrait of an Artist... Interaction with Bharti Sharma

Artist Animesh Roy in his studio.
Noida, Delhi India Feb 2015

http://indianartcollectors.com/features/artist-interview?id=17

"You are either an artist or you are not. Here there are no in-betweens." 
That is how Animesh Roy defines an artist. Animesh insists upon not being read as an artist with a chosen truth to profess through his works. His reason to paint is as simple as happiness. In his words, “I paint because I like to portray the happier side of life.” Animesh’s works affirm his motto. The breezy landscapes laden with painterly impasto bring to life the simple rustic rhyme of colour and light in nature. There is a rich play of textures, hues and poetic strokes in his works. His life, much like his art is a beautiful unison of the Orient and the Occident, given that he divides his time between India and Poland. What dominates his persona is his vibrant bohemian demeanour, his hunger for travel. His childhood years, much like his growing years, have seen the myriad hues of numerous streets of numerous cities which he resurrects in his works. He thrives on meeting people, visiting villages, monasteries, temples, churches, mosques... even graveyards....


Bharti Sharma: Your subject matter is quintessentially simple. How far does the subject determine the splendour of an art work? Or does it do that at all? 

Animesh Roy: For me the painting is beyond the subject. I feel the painting is important not the subject. Subject is immaterial. Cézanne, the founding father of modern art, started painting apples. He said he would shock the Paris Art World with an apple. He wanted to bring revolution with just an apple. Look at the simplicity of the subject.I believe if a work is to be described to the onlooker then it kills the very work. A work is self explanatory. 

BS: Art is often seen as a means to express the deepest meanings. Do you view or want your works to be viewed at a metaphysical level? 

AR: I don’t believe in attributing a transcendental meaning to my works, what inspires me is something as pure as nature. Cézanne said that whenever he was in doubt and he wanted to know if the painting was good, he held it against nature. He knew where the master was. 
The master was nature. My travels also inspire my work. Be it the Polish landscapes or the Indian Sadhus, I paint what I see. I love to Travel because that’s where the so called inspiration comes, so I hope to travel, paint more and be generally happy. 

BS: When you paint nature, do you exaggerate the characters that catch your eye or paint the scene as it is? 

AR: Exaggeration comes naturally while painting. Exaggeration comes from what you like. If I am painting a nude, my perception of the size of the breast is what I will paint regardless of how the model looks. Yes you may call it perception or exaggeration, but this comes naturally with each canvas I do. 
I would say an artist paints not so much by perception but by his own limitations. 


BS: I can see a lot yellow around you. From the door to the studio walls, yellow is the colour that dominates. 

AR: Yellow is my favourite colour. A painting is about how you put the colour. Colour is the soul of the work. You see colours differently. What orange you see, I see another orange, you can look more towards the yellow and I can look more towards the red. That is the beauty of colour. 
I have worked in charcoals, water colours, oils but I don’t believe Acrylic to be a colour. 

BS: Whom do you turn to when in doubt about a work? 

AR: I taught in a school for some months. I used to show my work to my students, the youngest lot. They would then ask me questions and give me the right ideas. So the most innocent were my favourite critics. That is how I use to look at it. 


BS: How far do you agree with the art education system of the country?What changes do you wish to see in the education circuit in India that can help art students to flourish better? 

AR: I am not very impressed by the art education scene here. I feel art colleges should be run by artists. For me an artist is the one whose fundamentals are strong and is talented. To have your fundamentals one must read a lot. In my time all we had were books. One could always find me in the library sifting through books. Now there is the Internet. One must navigate as much as possible. 
I also believe there is a lot of unlearning required. One should try to unlearn the learnt so as to learn the new. 

BS: Do you intend to give your viewers a message through your works? 

AR: I don’t pretend that I paint to convey a message. I paint because I like to portray the happier side of life-beautiful landscapes, flowers for example, because I think there are enough artists to paint the morbid side. 

For the Magic of Oil, We paint in Oil!!

For the Magic of Oil, We paint in Oil!!

Oil is an expensive, time taking medium ... only serious artist around the globe use it...Most Indian artists today use Acrylic. Most Indian art buyers buy Acrylic paintings. They don't know any better!! Oil paintings have vanished from the contemporary Indian art scene!! Most artists would confess in private, because of "lack of time" they work in Acrylic paints!! They 'finish' their painting.. Just in time for 'shows' by using this quick-drying-cheap-synthetic plastic-medium!! And here we paint for the sake of painting, for the sheer pleasure of painting in Oil, for its beauty and texture, for it shine and translucent quality, for it's colour range and mixing ability, for the smell of linseed and turpentine on our hands, for the sake of art... For the magic of Oil, we paint in Oil!! And not for 'shows' not for 'deadlines'!! They paint over night... In Acrylic and the very next day a 'painting' is ready!!
So taking some of my printed brochure I went around town dropping them in newly opened galleries. In one such gallery as i entered i saw work canvass being arranged along the gallery floor and against the wall.. getting ready to hang.. a new show! As the girl behind the desk was busy i sneaked and pick a few canvases... all had strange feel to it... the colours all finished at the edges of the canvas with a machine like accuracy!! the revere side had no stains or colour smudges!! They were all digital art... but when I was told very confidently by the gallery manager they were "Oil on Canvas'!!

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One thing which is very close to my heart..   and it use to make me sad.... 
It maybe a bit technical for the uninitiated, but i will try to write this as plainly as possibly. Hope everyone would understand

I love 'oil paintings'. But due to availability of cheap and easy to use Acrylic paints many artists slowly have started to work in Acrylic. The reasons were: Acrylics are cheap.. (it is synthetic plastic paint.)

Acrylics dry up very soon, unlike oils... so you an finish a painting and sell it the next second!!!

Oil takes time to dry and it not so easy to use. You have to spend lot time to hone that skill.

All theses reasons drove many to 'Acrylic'... but a painting in acrylics won't have the charm, lustre and beauty of an Oil. Oil paints like Water colours are 'old school' and timeless classic mediums.

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In India, most artist... especially from the young generation (from 1990-2014) have completely stopped working in oils! In fact there are those who have never ever worked in Oils!!!

Recently I had to find artist from India who work in Oils for a International Art show... I found non!!

The lure of quick money and quick delivery of paintings don't seem to suit our artists from India!! 

They are into 'video art', 'digital art', 'conceptual art' and all such absurd art!!

This is the reason why I was unable to find any good artist from my own country!! Some sent me works but I know that those are not Oils!! Even if they claim they are!! They are ink jets on Canvas!! Or just Acrylic... which they wanted to pass it off as Oils!!

Many Indian Art galleries and artists sell digital prints...  under the pretext of 'hand  painted painting'... 
But are actually digital prints on canvas/paper etc

'Ink jet on canvas' is sometimes get passed off as 'original hand-painted works labelled as: 'Oil on Canvas' or 'Acrylic on Canvas'!! Like the once one can buy in stores like Ikea!! With texture and all... printed on canvas!!! 

One can print thousands!!

Many artists would take out a print out and then add few lose brush strokes to make it look "hand painted"!
Like many of us artists are not great draughtsmen... (lacking the ability to draw accurately etc like a Leonardo or Dali etc.)
so they hide their limitation by taking out print out of a drawing, photograph, painting etc. And then paint over it!! 
To camouflage the print.. some artists take out drawing or sparsely coloured printout and then slap oil or acrylics paint over the print and pass it off as 'original, hand-painted works of art'!! 

When you buy Art works...Be careful!! Get an expert to authenticate them..

I am not against 'Digital Art' per se.. But the buyer/art lovers etc. have the right to know, exactly what the medium etc is...

Let me tell you from own experience.. it was 2006 I was holding my solo show in Delhi after a gap of 10 or more long years!!

Things had changed, galleries I used to know had closed down... Unknown small time galleries were now too snooty to pick the phone and talk to me... 
So went about visiting them personally... in once such up-market gallery in New Delhi, I saw a show was in progress...

Upon asking... was told the works were "all Oil on Canvas"!!

It was a lie... I know the sight, smell and texture of oil... and most importantly no artist can keep the sides of the canvas so clean!! It was of course some kind of ink jet on canvas, where the sides remain squeaky clean!!

Oils and Watercolour will always be there... it is Classic and timeless.

Also 'representative' art will live on... everyone enjoys realism in art.

Recently I was asked to help in selecting artist across the globe.. Oil painters for an International Art show.. alas i couldn't find a single decent Indian Artist who had body of works in Oils!!