Theme presented differently

KRATU IS an Italian artist, who has been living in Auroville, Pondicherry for almost 30 years. He was trained as a painter in his country, but when he moved to Pondicherry after his sojourn in the North, he met a friend who was a potter. The latter gave him the necessary facilities to begin with and that is how Kratu became a ceramist. He makes sculptures in stoneware and since they are all baked in wood fire, they achieve a peculiar brown shade. They also have a sense of solidity as if sculpted from stone. His ceramic creations are on show at the Artworld till February 28 along with the paintings by Asma Menon.

Kratu, it appears, has a habit of going back to certain themes, one of which is the `Mother and child'. Some of his sculptures on the theme are also called `New life'. Though the theme is the same, he has conceived each of them a little differently, the child often within the form of the mother.

Of late Kratu has done quite a few pieces about the b 'Birth of Venus', who, according to mythology, is supposed to have emerged from water. Three heads of Venus, arranged in a row, show her slowly coming to life; the first one has the eyes closed and in the last they are wide open. In other pieces, Venus is in different stages of coming out of the shell or conch. These sculptures are all in cream colour.

Kratu also likes doing sculptures of groups of people; he likes to depict movement, which he is able to do in this concept. The way the arms are held or the heads shown bent this way or that, is suggestive of movement; The fragile nature of the material demands careful handling and sculpting the limbs standing free in the air would not be safe; it is easier to show movement in relief sculpture. The tightly knit groups enable such relief-like sculpting, which also enables Kratu to show mass and shape. These often appear like red sandstone. There are several heads, which are either designed as mobiles or masks, either in plain reddish brown or in other light colours like green and blue with a touch of glaze. He uses glaze in minimal measurers - a little flower here, or a touch there, is about all. In monochromatic renderings in order to get variations on the surface, he uses different types of clay.

The expression on the faces are calmness and serenity. Says Kratu that when he was in Italy he used to depict dramatic emotions, but after coming to live in India, which he did because he likes the philosophy of the country, he has given up the habit.

Four terracotta slabs from a set of five - one was broken - with bas-reliefs have the central one with Krishna playing the flute, while the others have Gopis dancing with abandon. The sense of animation is quite strong. But in general all human forms of his, whether in the round or in bas-relief are quite stocky and solid.

As if to balance or as a contrast to the heavy looking sculptures may be, we find the airy paintings by Asma Menon on the walls. As usual she is stuck with her fantasy world and fairy tale characters - wiry human and animal forms, plants and creepers. But the colours are rather vibrant and glowing as they are set against a black background. Some works have clown-like characters in lively swinging movements, which convey a sense of cheer and provoke a smile on the face of the viewer.

LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN

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