The Dream of an Idiot, a survey show of artist and pedagogue Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri that is currently on display at Emami Art, encompasses the significant phases of the artist’s long and productive career across four decades, bringing to light the rich consonance that marks his practice. A weaver, painter and designer, Karchaudhuri has always been attracted to the non-figurative fluid approach. A teacher at Kala Bhavana’s design department, we speak with Karchaudhuri about his artworks and more.
Tell us about The Dream of an Idiot.
Everybody dreams. I love to dream too, but you can never explain a dream properly. Rabindranath Tagore has said in Hing Ting Chot, how weird dreams could be and how difficult decoding those could be. Despite expert analyses, you can never really box your dreams up. When I dreamt, I felt like a fool, like an idiot. That’s why the name and it’s open to interpretation.
Tapestry is a very old art form, and artists nowadays rarely practise them. What grew your interest in tapestry?
Tapestry is an age-old art form that was initially practised in France, and later in Europe. Now the utilitarian purpose is gone and what is left of it is a rich, aesthetic appeal. As and when modern artists took an interest in the art form, it grew popular. When textile industries vanished from Europe, some trained weavers started practising the art themselves. As a young designer, I started working at an organisation from where we were sent for training to the newly established textile and fibre arts department at the National Institute of Design under the guidance of renowned weaver and textile designer Nelly Sethna and Finnish textile designer Helena Perheentupa, who had joined as faculty. That was the beginning. I joined Kala Bhavan in the 1990s as a teacher of tapestry, design, and textiles, and started weaving pieces on a loom myself. I introduced modern tapestry at the institute and currently, many of my students are practising it.
Why did you choose Santiniketan to settle down?
For half of my life, I have been away from home. For the rest of my life, I wanted to settle down somewhere and practise art. And no better place than Santiniketan to do this since it has made me rethink all the work that I have done previously.
What are you working on now?
I am trying to rediscover and rethink shapes, especially triangles. I break them, redo them and think of all sorts of transformations that they can go through. It’s about creating, destroying and rebuilding again. The exhibition is on till September 30