Cute birds, little paper boats, tea cups filled with steaming tea; all of these appear on old papers culled from yesteryear journals, ledgers, bills and letters. Such is the nature of Bengaluru-based artist Bakula Nayak’s works. The ‘cutsie’ motifs are meshed with intricate penmanship and romanticised narrative yet her paintings fall through the cracks of what is perceived as ‘serious art’.
However, she makes no apologies for her labour of love. Her paintings, Nayak says, depict her passion for telling stories. “It is hard to separate my art from myself.” The back stories of scribbled longings on love letters, officious sounding sale deeds of houses long gone, the mundane notes in meticulously kept diaries, the ridiculously low pricing on old bills; all these pique her interest. She imagines a romantic world without the niggling realities of the present or the past. And then the painting happens. From finding the apt “vintage” paper (she scours the vintage shops in the US and India), writing out a narrative to penning the work before it finally gets coloured, Nayak puts the process out on social media as an unfurling process. When the painting is finally made, it seems like a familiar friend waiting to be adopted. Most find their homes.
Bakula Nayak
At the Capital, the India International Centre is currently hosting her new show Intimate Strangers (till August 28) which the artist describes as “an exhibition of paintings and vintage ephemera”. Keeping in mind the fun world she projects, which is how Nayak’s shows can be described; I asked the mid-career artist of how she would critique her own works. Instead, she narrated a conversation with senior artist Thota Vaikuntam, her childhood idol whom she had met in an art camp in Hyderabad. When she mustered courage to show him her works – “I am, after all, filled with self doubts as I have not studied art formally” – and asked him what he thought of them. “He told me as long as you are happy, it should not matter what others think of them.” That was the end of any apprehensions she had had of her works. Nayak needs the sub-layer of narrative offered by the “vintage” papers in order to build up her own works. At her first art camp along with established artists like Laxman Aelay, she remembers having stared at a blank canvas for the longest time because there were no stories on it. “I can’t draw if there isn’t any story on the surface.” Ultimately, the canvas didn’t get coloured but she did go back home and created works on her beloved papers. “I pretty much love everything,” she says, answering questions on appropriation of others stories. “I am a collector of abandoned things, like a keeper of memories that no one wants.” And so her works tell those stories in a way she chooses to see.
Element of naivety
“Garden Party”
For instance, inking meticulously on a journal paper, she fantasises about the trader who wrote only about “meaningless chores” until one entry said ‘Wife is here, fun everyday’. Nayak chortles with amusement, “How romantic could he be, that man who practically wrote nothing of interest?” Her works are called romantic, even fantastical. Art critic Johny ML comments on her medium (paper) as being apt for her “nostalgic” works which reminds viewers of fantasy based on children’s narrative like the Aesop Tales or the Panchatantras. But the works have a strong element of naivety. “That’s my opinion.”
Although Nayak says there aren’t many people doing what she does, she mentions some Jaipur artists who paint on legal papers of yore, many in the art world disagree. Paper, by itself, has been a source of inspiration for artists from Braque to Picasso and Matisse. While they established the collage technique, what Nayak does is appealing to those who want something ‘nice’ for the walls of their homes. Her works, Johny M L points out, will appeal the new collectors. “The value system of the artist and the buyer is a shared one. As the collector’s budget and aesthetic evolves, he or she will look at other enduring mediums.”
“Getting to the Bottom”
That is the real sticky issue with Nayak, and other artists who deal with fragile mediums: the longevity of their creations. Here, the artist takes a breezy outlook. “If the paper has lasted a hundred years, it won’t disintegrate now,” she comments. She admits that it is only recently she took some old maps in her possession to INTACH in order to de-acidify them. Artist Aishwaryan K, who does some serious self-exploratory works on elephant dung paper, says that those who have bought his works have never questioned him about the life of the work. “I use paper because that is very me. The same holds for Bakula.” But others are not of the same viewpoint. A gallerist in the city, who does not want to be named, notes her scepticism about the value of such works. “The artist talks of paper that is circa 1940. How will it be durable?” Johny ML discusses the ethics in the art market. When artwork is a commodity, it is the responsibility of the producer to assure a certain amount of durability to the consumer. That is the market ethics which binds both the seller and the consumer. “Art should be an ethical trade,” he says. Nayak’s works typically sell in the range of ₹35,000 - 45,000, which she claims is set by the galleries. “I don’t know if the prices are justified,” she says in her disarming style. Nayak is known to have gifted works to “random people” after the show is over because she can’t do new works if the old ones are still around.
But why are Nayak’s works so popular? For a viewer, the entry into Nayak’s works is very easy. The birds and their delightful antics give a good nostalgic feeling. Then, one delves into the vintage paper and starts reading the narrative in it. When was this written, who wrote it, what year was it, where was it...all these come to mind. It is later that the finely done inking make their presence felt. That wholeness in her art is what attracted artist Gurudas Shenoy to chose Nayak as a promising artist a couple of years back. At her first art show - a group show at the Vadhera Art Gallery in New Delhi - her paintings were hung up without the customary narratives. Nayak was standing in the gallery nervously when one gentleman stopped in front of her works and exclaimed, “Who is this? This artist should continue painting.” She hugged him as a spontaneous gesture. “Later, I came to know he was Arun Vadhera,” she giggles at the recollection.
Of nostalgia and yearning
The popularity of her works could also be that art often reflect the time it exists in. Most of the cities in India are in a state of rampant unorganised development. There is nostalgia and yearning for simpler times and a laid-back lifestyle. Her art brings that lost time to mind.
Looking at the works, I wonder if it is also because she doesn’t try too hard to ‘be' someone. Some artists are desperate to come up with something new every time. That shows in their works. Some artists are very good at what they do and continue to do that. Their formula never changes but neither do their works.
Many artists, some very good ones, have unfortunately fallen into this bracket. But someone like Nayak - she too has her own formula - attempts at combining the two; her motifs are the same but are telling new stories thanks to the different vintage papers - this show has seven different sections. Just for sheer determination and passion, her presence in the art world is quite assured. And as the artist tells me jokingly, “Nobody tells anyone that your work is really bad.”