Sekhar Roy (b.1957)

A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed - it feels an impulsion - this is the place to go now.

Impulsion. I guess that is the key word for me today. When I dip a brush in colour and hold it before a sparkling white canvas, I do not really know what my next painting is going to be. I have no pre-determined theme. The canvas leads me on. Demands of me newer dimensions, shades and shapes. And I obey.

Years ago, I had this urge to do something, and not live my life on the ringside, a mere onlooker. I took up painting since I could do nothing else.

The financial scenario was not very bright then. I could not afford a canvas. So all my works would be black and white drawings, done in charcoal. Camus and Kafka were my favourite authors, so when I could finally buy a canvas, I did the (Metamorphosis) series. That was my first show, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta.

I gradually entered into the world of colour. I tried my hand at different media - oil, water colour and acrylic. I was at different media - oil, water colour and acrylic. I was moved by my surroundings, the society I lived in. Even in a world teeming with millions, every man seemed like an island, living his own private, isolated life. In intimate relationships too, people seemed to have woven impenetrable cocoons around themselves. I tried to express this pervading sense of alienation in my works. The colours I used in them were deep shades of brown or mauve or green, the colours of evening or twilight. The colours too were tinged with sadness. And the textures - rough-hewn or gainy - helped build the desired ambience for my themes.

The sense of solitude in the works of David Hockney, Kitaj and David Hopper appealed to me. Even though my works have very Indian imagery, and are strikingly different from theirs, mine too, exude the same loneliness. I have been into figurative paintings for the past 20 years or more. Human beings - I do them angular and never soft and rounded have been my favourite subject always. Only earlier, like an early Bengali theatre, my paintings had no women. They float into my works now, not because, as I said the canvas dictates their presence. It is all very spontaneous and very unlike my earlier work process, where I would make rough drafts for every painting. My favourite medium these days is wood. I make drawings on it, burn it, use iron clips to join the parts together - it is a strenuous and complex experiment. The medium is not very popular, mostly because of the weight of each work and transportation difficulties. But I love it because helps me get out of the monotony of a square canvas. Every time I burn wood, it takes a different shape.

There was a time I thought Art should be used to convey messages. Not any more. I do not think you could force a message into your work, for then it does not stay a painting. Art should be its own message. I would much rather work on and develop my originality, the style that defines me.