Interview

Sanjay Sawant

United : size 22x28" Mix media on paper

Next artist was Sanjay Sawant, a cheerful, expressive personality. Being from J.J. School Of Art, highly accomplished in his art, receiver of many prestigious  awards during college and professional days, he later on took up the profession of a lecturer in Art Colleges and taught in various states of Maharashtra. He is also a seasoned writer. He resigned as a lecturer at a very young age and became an independent Abstract painter to nurture his love for painting. During his process he attended many workshops all around the world, which exposed him to diverse environment, culture and traditions which he finely incorporated in his creations. He has an unusual style of painting. The chief materials that he works with are the gold and silver foils and light green shaded cotton paper used to produce envelopes. He pastes this on large, medium and small canvasses with subtle dash of color between the spaces. He is very clear about the inspirations for his work, use of material and his identification as an artist.

Q: Did your academics and profession as a lecturer have any contribution to your creation?

S.S: I owe a lot to Sir J. J. School of Art. No artists should deny the role of Art School that he or she attends before establishing one self. I proudly say that I had an expertise in portrait painting. I received lot of accolades for it too. Portraiture involved capturing the features of human face, but I realized that a face is the exposure of thoughts and mindset, the environment that he lives in and experiences as an individual. I was also fascinated by inanimate things around and I felt like drawing their portraits. I think that is where my experimentation began. So I painted them in portrait form. Today my horizons of capturing inanimate objects have widened and now I portray space. Nature engulfs us; it is our vision to link our spirit with space. I am able to fuse my spirit with nature and be one with it and so I can do painting. Nature does not remain a space for me but it becomes ‘me, an undetectable part of me’. My experience of teaching taught me to enter into the core of objects.

Q: What instigated you to use golden and silver  foils and envelope in your painting?

S.S: As I said, I started experimenting in my art; I found the foil in cigarette packets appealing to me with their fragile texture and shine. As I always admire flowing water in sea and rivers and calm water in lakes, I could feel the shine of water in this silver foil. I especially like to be near vast water bodies during night time, when there is reflection of sky and heavenly bodies in the water, the hazed sight of clear water and the rhythm produced due to waves and water that rush towards bank and slowly recedes. I could produce these effects using aluminum foil and faint use of colors in spaces between the spaces after pasting the pieces foils on canvas, Golden foils gives me energy of sun, Envelope feel like wrinkled, matured skin with traces of life’s experiences, it is like a skin which is very delicate and soft to touch, I feel envelope paper is a container of love. So I use it in paintings to make my painting appear animated rather than mere characterless painting. 

 Q: What inspires you to paint?

S. S: Space and spirit are my real inspirations. Every space of matter becomes a womb which resurrects me with every creation. Visuals are external bodies and I impregnate soul in it. Thus, it becomes a divine process and I am myself mystified with this the phenomenon breathing new life into my visuals. I take inspiration from my immediate environment. The images that I see get abstracted in my thoughts because I do not want to present replicas of what I see but their effects and appeals,  whether it is a landscape, incident or situation but the their effects and appeals. So my creativity is not static and repetitive but dynamic and varied.

Q: How would you justify your paintings?

S.S: One can relate oneself with my painting so I am happy with it. My medium of creation is my identity which would remain intact in any form that I would opt to create. I enjoy creative process and search of painting is my main goal, so ups and downs of commercial do not shatter the artist in me. I have my own style. There are serious art lovers who have faith in me and they love and support my art.

JK: Thank you for sharing your creative journey with us.

S. S: It’s my pleasure!

                                                                                                   Pankaja J.K

                                                                                                   Mumbai