There are artists who create art to ask questions. There are critics who ask questions about the creation. There are historians who chronicle both. And then, rarely, we come across the ones who do all of the above, and then some more. Veteran artist Suresh Jayaram belongs to the last category. Although the younger generation of artists and culture mavens of the city know him as their beloved mentor and founder of the legendary art space 1Shanthiroad, Suresh has donned many hats over the last 30-odd years: artist, art critic, curator, educator, historian and now, mentor.
The beginning of his journey, however, began with a young boy in a family with no history of professional artists. “I was drawn to art and used to paint like any other young boy. My parents used to buy me colours, take me to galleries and museums, and introduce me to artists they knew. They were happy to support what I did, but they thought it would be a hobby; and it so happened that the hobby became my mainstream indulgence,” he begins.
Suresh’s formal education in art began when he started pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. Following this, he pursued a Master of Fine Arts in Art History, Criticism, and Conservation from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, completing the degree in 1993. This shift in focus from creating art to analysing it fundamentally changed how Suresh approached his visual practice. In Suresh’s words, “You’re able to contextualise art or criticise it only by knowing more about art. So, art history and art criticism help you to deepen your context of knowing more about visual culture.”
Alongside painting and exhibiting at prominent spaces like Sakshi Gallery in Mumbai, Suresh started teaching art history at the KCP from 1993, eventually becoming the Dean of the college from 2005–2007. It’s here that the artist realised firsthand how art education was beginning to evolve rapidly against the backdrop of the digital revolution. “Now, students are more equipped to look at the world around them, at the contemporary art scene. They have a lot of accessibility to artists, to people and to the media. Students come with a lot of knowledge on themselves. So, one has to engage with them on how to work with the materials and the politics of doing art,” Suresh tells us. “In that way, it’s more of mentoring than teaching. Some of my best students have become my friends and they work in the same contemporary context as I do. So, there’s no longer the hierarchy of a teacher and a student,” he further notes.
It was, therefore, not a surprise to many when his passion for mentoring and expertise in enterprising led him to establish 1Shanthiroad — a not-for-profit, alternative art space and international residency — in 2002. “The initial decision was to create a space for artists who are working in a very experimental and alternative way, and create a kind of hub for artists to engage with each other, learn from each other and also exhibit in the gallery. Because of the international artist residency programme, people from all over the world have been coming here to work in the studios,” he speaks of the space fondly.
Many also know Suresh as an urban chronicler of Bengaluru, which has found its manifestations in the books he has written. “My book, Bangalore’s Lalbagh: A Chronicle of the Garden and the City, put together my association with the city’s gardens and horticultural landscape. It’s also looking at my own ancestry of connecting with the city and as a space, as a context. So it’s partly an anecdotal memoir — with an archive of the city in the background — and the history of landscape,” says Suresh, who will be launching his new book on the history of Cubbon Park early next year.
But how does an artist interested in urban development then visually map the soul of contemporary Bengaluru? “The fact that Bengaluru is so cosmopolitan is reflected in not only the cultural context of being multicultural, multilingual and largely secular; our landscape itself is an amalgamation of native and colonial trees, which have become part of our urban living. Being a medieval city, a lot of syncretic traditions have somehow remained in this city, whether it’s St. Mary’s Festival where a lot of Hindus and Muslims participate in the procession, or when people belonging to other faiths visit Sabarimala. This kind of tolerance and acceptance is only possible in India, which we need to sustain for a more cosmopolitan world,” Suresh answers.
We asked the last question of the interview in keeping with our anniversary theme — if we look to the next 15 years of the city’s creative life, what’s the biggest challenge or opportunity facing independent spaces like 1Shanthiroad? “The biggest challenge for a space like 1Shanthiroad is sustainability, and constantly engaging with the latest developments in the arts while remembering our roots. In the coming years, 1Shanthiroad will hopefully invest more to create an archive of Bengaluru and visual art practice in the city,” Suresh concludes on a pensive note.
X: @MallikPrattusa
Email: prattusa.indulge@gmail.com
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