Chaos to order via abstract strokes

CHENNAI: Pablo Picasso once said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards you can remove all traces of reality.” P Gopinath, an abstract art painter has a similar opinion when it comes to abstract art, “When we do abstract art, we won’t have a particular theme to start with. We  start with something random and finally end up with the piece. It’s like going from chaos to order,” explains Gopinath.

Gopinath’s passion for abstract art when he was trying to figure out the pictorial language as a part of his academics. “Each artiste should find out an indvidual pictorial language so that they will have a unique way of expressing their creativity,” he says.

Born in 1948 in Kerala, P Gopinath is one of the founding members of the Cholamandalam Artists’ Village. He holds a diploma (1970) from College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai. The 71-year old immigrant from Kerala has been painting for the last 40 years, though his style of painting has changed over the years.

“I started off like any other painter,  observing nature and painting landscapes. From figurative painting, I shifted to miniature art since the colour ensembles fascinated me. As a child, I was fascinated by the image of Velichapaadu from the village temple; the Kolam drawn to please the snake deities and many more imageries reflect my roots. When I shifted my focus to abstract creativity, colours and composition of these memories started coming back,” smiles Gopi.

Gopinath began his relation with brushes and colours during the early 80s when he was inspired by the paintings of his mentor KCS Paniker, the founder of Cholamandalam Artists’ Village. Later on, he got acquainted with the works of German artiste, Paul Klee. “In the beginning of my journey, I used to get inspired by objective pieces, but when I started developing a keen interest in abstract art, I taught myself to get inspired from my own work.”

Since abstract art is non-representational, how does he find inspiration? “I travel a lot. I have travelled across India in search of new colours and shades. I do that even today. I truly believe that a good painting is an arrangement of good patterns. So I would say, exposing myself to the outside world is how I find inspiration,” adds Gopi.

Themeless creativity
Artists are taught to use colour and composition to evoke emotions, and there are theories that substantiate them. Gopi believes that such theories hinder creativity. “Abstract art is non-figurative and themeless. If I want to express violence, it is not necessary that I should use red. I can use different shades of grey or blue,” says Gopi.

Gopinath’s paintings will be exhibited at Soul Spice Art Gallery, Mylapore till Nov 18.
For details, call: 9840478886