A makeover for the Mahatma

12 artists outline their visual idea of India’s most iconic figure.

What’s the most enduring image of Mahatma Gandhi that we have? A minimally drawn, fluid line representation by an advertising guru, Gandhi busts in public parks and sepia images on postage stamps, illustrations on currency notes and on legal paper, grainy pictures of Mohandas changing into the Mahatma and more recent stills of Ben Kinsley playing the role in Gandhi. “Visually, he’s all around you,” says Dinesh Vazirani, chief executive officer, Saffronart, and though he has made it to mainstream cinema (think Lage Raho Munnabhai), artists have mostly tip-toed around the icon.

And yet, the Mahatma was not always so reluctantly portrayed — indeed, like the representation of Mother India in nationalist art aimed at throwing out the British from India, his eminence as a freedom fighter catapulted him quickly to a hero’s role in the poster art of the period. It was this image that was fed to the masses, and which, in its kitschyness, is probably the most enduring symbol of the man who led the country’s march to freedom.

Saffronart’s month-long exhibition, Bapu, by 12 artists, from January 15 to February 15, at its gallery in Mumbai, now provides a fillip to that image, though Vazirani is quick to point out that the idea of the exhibition, curated by Gayatri Sinha, is “to provoke thought and discussion”. “His views on industry, on socialisation, on politics and how they would have reflected the new India, the changing economic scenario in the country, that’s very important.”

The artists are an eclectic bunch and include those who’ve worked with video installations (Navjot and Gigi Scaria) to top-liners like Surendran Nair, Riyas Komu and Jagannath Panda, to experimental artists Sachin Karne, Ashim Purkayashta and Vasudha Thozur, to photo-artists (Ram Rahman, Vivek Vilasini), to sculpture (Manisha Parekh, Anandajit Ray). Ironically, their nod towards Gandhi comes after a work by experimental French sculptor Stephane Cipre, called “Portrait de Gandhi”, was unveiled by New Delhi’s Marigold Fine Art gallery as its piece de resistance. “Most works show him as a fading relic,” surmises Vazirani, almost as if Gandhi is in need of rescuing and resuscitation. “The artists in the exhibition appear to respond to different aspects of the life of Gandhi,” notes Gayatri Sinha.

Originally intended to be held in New York, following the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, Saffronart decided to screen the works in Mumbai itself, aimed at hoping to translate some of the dialogues around the attack into action. But ultimately all art is for sale, and Bapu will go online on Saffronart, where they are expected to sell for upwards of Rs 2 lakh. The Manisha Parekh sculpture, for instance, Vazirani points out, is priced at Rs 4.5 lakh, the Jagannath Panda canvas has a price tag of Rs 30 lakh, and Surendran Nair’s gigantic work “Tathaagata” is the most expensive at Rs 70 lakh. Considering that his image is on every currency bill in the country, it’s unlikely that he would have baulked at this commerce.