An Ode To Khepa Baul

K. Bikram Singh

When an artist writes about another artist, he provides an insight into his subject that usually escapes the art scholar, busy as the latter is looking for art historical references in the subject and thus showing off his ‘knowledge’. In this process, the first instinctive response that a work of art often demands is lost in the maze of dry scholarship. It is, therefore, no surprise that A. Ramachandran’s, ‘RAM KINKAR: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST’, offers the reader a refreshingly new understanding of the life and work of Ram Kinkar Baij (1906-1980). Apart from being a distinguished artist, Ramachandran has the added advantage of having been a student of Ram Kinkar for seven years. This gave him an opportunity to watch Ram Kinkar in ordinary life as also at work and thus to understand the thinking and the processes that went into the creation of his art.

Besides, Ramachandran is a gifted writer who has frequently written on art and on himself with the typical salt and pepper humour of a Malayali. This profusely illustrated book was brought out by the National Gallery of Modern Art on the occasion of the recent centenary retrospective exhibition of Ram Kinkar Baij. It was perhaps the first major retrospective of Ram Kinkar held by the NGMA and one of the best and most difficult retrospectives ever organized by the National Gallery. It was made possible only because of the dogged persistence and the remarkable curatorial skills of the sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan, an informal pupil of Ram Kinkar, and the whole hearted support of Rajiv Lochan, the Director of NGMA.