10 artists pay tribute to poet-art scholar Keshav Malik on his birth centenary

Poet and art scholar Keshav Malik, who encouraged young artists, was the founder of Delhi Art Society. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Four decades ago when NS Rana, then a young and an aspiring artist, mounted his first solo exhibition in the national capital, among the early visitors was a tall and thin man wearing a kurta and Nehru jacket. It was Keshav Malik, a poet and art scholar whose ubiquitous influence was felt at art and literary events for decades, mostly shows featuring an up-and-coming artist or writer.

"My first show was held in a tiny room at the Triveni Art Gallery in 1980. Keshav Malik still came, saw the exhibition and talked to me later," says Rana, a Delhi-based artist and an alumnus of Delhi College of Art. "He said my works had an Indianness and an arresting charm," recalls Rana.

For many young students like Rana coming out of campuses to an unforgiving art world, Malik offered support by his presence and critique. Decades later, many of them are paying back with a show of their own in memory of Malik at the centenary of his birth.

Opened at the Gandhi King Plaza of the India International Centre on December 7, iSculpt, an exhibition of 23 sculptures and one set of monochromes, celebrates Malik's contribution to Indian art. Among the works are sculptures by Himmat Shah and the late artists Satish Gujral, Amar Nath Sehgal and Rini Dhumal.

"Keshav Malik worked throughout his life to connect art to life and iSculpt is a way of showing our respects," says Neeraj Gupta, current president of Delhi Art Society founded by Malik in 2005. "He was a true friend of artists and had a special place in his heart for sculptors," adds Gupta, pointing out the exhibition's focus on sculpture.

"Malik was a great admirer of European master-sculptors. Their concepts impressed him a lot. All the same, he loved exploring Indian sculptors who delved into the roots of Indian philosophy," says art historian Uma Nair, the curator of iSculpt.

Born in Miani village on the banks of the Jhelum river in Pakistan's Punjab province in 1924,  Malik migrated to Delhi with his family after Partition. He wrote 18 volumes of poems and co-founded the Poetry Society of India.

The works of iSculpt (December 7-21) are by Amar Nath Sehgal, Ankon Mitra, Arun Pandit, Bhola Ram, Biman Das, Dhananjay Singh, G Reghu, Harsha Durugadda, Himmat Shah, Muzaffar Ali, Neeraj Gupta, Nimesh Pilla, NS Rana, Parmod K Mann, Phaneendra Nath Chaturvedi, Rajesh Ram, Ram Kumar Manna, Rini Dhumal, SD Hariprasad, Satish Gujral, Satish Gupta, Sonia Sareen, Vipul Kumar and Manoj Arora.

Here is a peek into 10 of the sculptures at iSculpt:

Topo (2015), Hyderabad-based Harsha Durugadda's sculpture in painted birchwood, is an exaggerated toy. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

"Tops were the earliest toys for humankind," says Hyderabad-based artist Harsha Durugadda, an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Arts and Aesthetics. Topo (2015), his sculpture made in painted birchwood, is the Rayalaseema-born artist's attempt to bring the vernacular to the urban landscape. Born in a region known for its traditional toys made with natural wood and liquorice, Durugadda's sculpture is an exaggerated toy that explores the gap between the poor at the bottom of the pyramid and the rich at the top.

Delhi-based Satish Gupta's copper and steel sculpture, Devi (2023), represents the feminine power and wisdom. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Delhi-based Satish Gupta's copper and steel sculpture, titled Devi (2023), has just returned from the art fair, Art Mumbai 2023. Devi represents three Indian goddesses — Kali, Durga and Lakshmi. "My first work was bought by Satish Gujral," reminisces Gupta, whose sculpture, The Buddhas Within, is part of the collection at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly Prince of Wales Museum, in Mumbai. "The feminine power and knowledge is important in our culture," says Gupta.

Parmod K Mann's untitled 2021 work in black marble probes the primitive human form. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

A Master of Fine Arts from the Delhi College of Art in 1987, Parmod K Mann doesn't like working with machines for his sculptures. Instead, he uses a chisel and hammer. A winner of the Lalit Kala Akademi's National Award, Mann probes the primitive human form is his 2021 untitled work in black marble. The sculpture weighing 150 kg has an elongated nose and large bulging eyes with hair rising high above the head. The artist's quest for total form in the human body is evident in a work that reflects the country's deep roots in tribal history and culture.

Delhi-based artist Sonia Sareen's brass sculpture Bhavnamay (2015) shows an earth goddess in a sculpted head. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Delhi-based artist Sonia Sareen's brass sculpture Bhavnamay (2015) shows an earth goddess in a sculpted head. "Bhavnamayi rises from the watery beginnings of all living beings, swathed in sinuous lotus stems, culminating in sacred lotus blossoms, with lotus leaves gently wrapped around the head and the nape of the neck, in a silent bid to nurture intelligence, wit, and above all else, wisdom," says Sareen.

Ekayatan (2019) by Varanasi-born Phaneendra Nath Chaturvedi represents the first day of a pilgrimage. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Made in stainless steel, Ekayatan (2019) by the Varanasi-born Phaneendra Nath Chaturvedi represents the first day of a pilgrimage. A Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts alumnus, Chaturvedi creates a butterfly image in shining metal. "The pilgrimage starts from within ourselves," says the artist, whose work represents the interminable spirituality of his hometown, an ancient city of sacredness and harmony. "In our culture, we celebrate life and death equally," he says, referring to the artists' tribute to the late Malik.

The bronze sculpture Buddha (2022) by Biman Das draws inspiration from Sarnath. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Biman Das, the current chairman of All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society, Delhi, knew Malik from the '60s. "He was my mentor, philosopher and guide," says Das, whose bronze sculpture Buddha (2022) is inspired by Sarnath near Varanasi where Gautama Buddha taught his first sermon. A former professor at the Delhi College of Art, the Kolkata-born artist focuses on Buddha's meditative energy in his contemporary art work.

The late Rini Dhumal's 2017 bronze sculpture, Green Goddess, explores the mythic and divine. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Rini Dhumal, who passed away in September 2021, studied art at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara and later taught at the same university. Dhumal's 2017 bronze sculpture, Green Goddess, explores the mythic and divine. The renowned painter and printmaker explored goddesses as everyday women from different classes and regions.

Muzaffar Ali's untitled (2023) sculpture in bronze is inspired by his own 2022 painting, Hoshruba. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali's untitled (2023) sculpture in bronze is inspired by his own 2022 painting, Hoshruba. "I have been painting images of horses for a while," says Ali about Hoshruba, which he adds, represents the "wonderment of horses that are fiery and full of life". In the new sculpture, he creates a third dimension for the horses to celebrate freedom. A text in Urdu on the base of the bronze sculpture celebrates the craft of Arabic calligraphy.

Neeraj Gupta's Krishna Series sculptures made with pigment in white cement aims at recharging ancestral memories. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Neeraj Gupta, the president of Delhi Art Society founded by Keshav Malik, inquires into the continuum of civilisational heritage in his Krishna Series sculptures made with pigment in white cement. "It is an attempt to connect with our forefathers to recharge ancestral memories," says the artist.

Satish Gujral's untitled sculpture in black granite or a woman and bird is inspired by Indian mythology. (Photo courtesy Shazid Chauhan)

Satish Gujral's untitled sculpture in black granite or a woman and bird is inspired by Indian mythology. "Much of Sanskrit poetry is narrated through a dialogue with a bird, and I hadn't thought of this until I began," Gujral once said about his work.