Interpretation of deities

HYDERABAD: D Nagaiah has worked most of his life on the Andhra Pradesh (AP) force, only to take voluntary retirement in 2001 to turn to art full time. Despite being in a different line of profession, Nagaiah has been doing art on and off for the past 40 years and now holding his first ever exhibition, titled ‘The Divine Beings’, an interpretation of deities, at Taj Krishna. “I have always been interested in art. When I was a child I’d watch artists paint in temples and on the street and so on and feel drawn to doing something similar. But I joined the police force as a constable and being an artist became a hobby.” Nagaiah has been influenced by many things over the years — starting from his childhood escapades in the gardens of the Chowmahalla palace to his service in the police force where he worked with criminology and retired as a sub-inspector. He also draws from many of the art movements, finding inspiration in the realism art movement, impressionism, tachisme, among others. Since he is a self taught artist, Nagaiah made it a point to know as much as he could about the history of art. Ask him about his favourite art movement and the list of movements will start tumbling from his mouth, in chronological order! Having worked on the force has given him the ability to remember vast amount of information in a sequenced order, something that he uses while doing his art.The exhibition displays the artist’s unique art form — a fluid continuity of the line that transforms the canvas into a series of loops and curves that intertwine and circle around each other as if warping to become the figure on the canvas. A delicate play of colours stands out in all his paintings. While his lines meet and cross each other on the same plane, his colours complement each other giving a dimensional effect. Added to this, his non-stereotypical lines that define a face or an object make the painting all the more exciting. What makes these paintings all the more intriguing is the rather naïve and boyish approach to the deities, an interpretation that takes a certain amount of devotional strength.Nagaiah spent four months in all to create his 26 pieces of art. Ask him of the procedure, and he shrugs and answers, “I’ve been drawing this kind of an art for almost 10 years now. While travelling back and forth on the bus from home to the station, I used to scribble on paper. That’s how I developed this art style.” Drawing the outline could take him around 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the painting. But the tricky part is filling in the colour. The artistic trademark of Nagaiah’s paintings are the ever continuous lines that cross each other like a maze. Looked at without the colour, the sketches would seem like a confusion of lines and curves. The 40 years of artistic creativity not only includes Nagaiah’s doodling but also sketching portraits of suspects based on descriptions. “I used to specialise in portraits. But then started experimenting and forayed into a different art form all together,” says the artist. Nagaiah used to scribble about 200 drawings everyday. The story of art is always a long winding, multi-cultural journey that is just as precariously balanced as it is rock steady. The artistic journey of D Nagaiah is just as paradoxical yet his devotion to his passion is his touchstone.The exhibition is on till August 15 at the Seasons Lounge, Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills.