Spring Board
Bhrigu Sharma
Though passed out of an influential Art institute like MSU, Baroda, Bhrigu Sharma is not one among the crowd. A young artist Bhrigu hailing from Guwahati doesn’t see techniques and materials as bindings, rather with every work he tries his hand on different medium. From painting to installation and from sculpture to public art every medium is just another way to explore his creativity.
When did (artists name) realize that he had an artistic bend?
From childhood, I used to carry my drawing book always to my school even though it was not compulsory. I used to copy things or paint whenever I would find time in between the classes. My friends used to like it very much. I remember, when I was in ninth standard, one of our teachers asked us that what we dream to become when we grew up. Everybody had serious professions to answer but I was the only one who replied that I want to become a painter. My teacher then praised me a lot.
Who initiated him/her into serious art?
My parents. But it was never serious for us at that time. It was only the sheer curiosity that I would join art school where I could do art whole day and whole year without any tension to study those big books.
Where did he/she study art and how was the training like?
Actually I got trained in hobby classes from very childhood. In Guwahati (the place where I belong to) there are many hobby classes on weekends run by artist who had studied from Guwahati Art College to support themselves. I got the best of the academic training that was taught in that art –colleges from very childhood. Like sketching, portrait painting, clay work etc. but my real training actually happened after I got admission in faculty of fine arts, Baroda in 2001. It was kind of liberation of my own canons that I had inherited from those hobby classes. I remember once I was giving my submission of works, I was describing about one of my work where I said that I was looking for a balance in the work and that’s why I have kept two figures on the either edge of the paper. Upon hearing that, my teacher only asked me a simple question –“what is balance?” For me the training in Baroda had taught to ask questions about my own pre-occupation in art.
How does he/she explain his works done during the BFA?
During my BFA I had tried to explore all possible mediums in painting because how to paint had gained importance inside me then what to paint.
What did he/she do during his post graduate days?
Before joining my post-graduation, I had gained experience of working outside the faculty premises because after my graduation I went to Delhi where I interacted with different situations and with various attitudes of people. This actually had induced a feeling of ‘identity’ in my work. After getting enrolled in post-graduation again in Baroda, I started to push those thoughts much further. ‘Figuration’ remains my main area of motivation along with my struggle to understand the formal complexities within art.
How did art history influence him?
Art history has always made me aware of the present situation/stage within my work almost like the fortune –teller. Also very recently, I have started looking at art-history as a source of style/manner of working with an ambivalent relationship.
How does he explain his current practice?
Since I have just completed my post-graduation, I am on the same track as I have discussed earlier.
What does he think about the art market?
I have only heard about the hype of art- market but yet not being the victimized of art market. Even though, I wish to support myself without making any alterations with my process of working or compromise with the innovative aspect of art.
Where do we see Bhrigu Sharma in the coming years?
I am not so obsessed with my name. Work, for me is a daily activity without which I feel I am lost in this busy world. So I hope to push my work to a more professional standard so that it not only becomes my concerns but should be able to give essential pleasure to others also.
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