Now, a retrospective highlights the rare sketches of late Chennai sculptor Nandagopal

He had a “24/7 art house”.

In keeping with the heritage it proudly hosts – Original Artist’s KCS Panicker, the pioneer of the Madras art movement, who founded the Cholamandal Artists’ Village and his son S Nandagopal, one of the movement’s last patrons – conversations about art were inevitable. And spontaneous sketches and notes, sometimes hurriedly, were written on scattered pieces of paper strewn across the dinner table.

“The table was never clean!” Pallavi Nandagopal says, remembering her father, tracing the birth of an idea, which would soon come to metal.

These sketches are a fascinating glimpse S NandagopalThe creative process of: The artist broke ground in abstraction through sculpture.

Now neatly crafted, they are part of a “mini-retrospective” on the fifth year of Nandagopal’s passing at the Focus Art Gallery.

The collection, which shows his work from the early 2000s to 2016, opens a window into the psyche of artists, right at the same time an idea strikes.

Typical of the Madras art movement, Nandagopal had a strong base in drawing. “Sometimes, he would draw till the end of the sheet and realized there was no room. So he’ll take another piece, attach it and continue drawing,” says Pallavi.

Imperfections, tears, and randomly chipped pieces are a raw reminder of how hard work goes behind each finished piece of art.

Pallavi’s mother and late artist’s wife Kala Nandagopal adds, “For a long time these were hidden as individual pieces. Many of the earlier sketches were probably just thrown out. Sharing them with the public, she says, is important because unlike the sculptures, these sketches would have been forgotten otherwise.

S. Nandagopal in his field of work. photo credit: special arrangement

As they were curating the sketches – there are 33 on display – they were able to combine several with the finished sculptures: there are 11 such sculptures on display that are paired with draft sketches. Bhishma, a lightly enameled statue depicting one of the MahabharataThe lead character lying on the famous bed of arrows is a recognizable reproduction of a drawing signed in 2014.

Along with this, 20 watercolors have been done by the artist between 2014 and 2016. “During the peak summer months in Madras, we would encourage her not to come to the studio and work on the sculptures. He used to do watercolor and drawing in those months, especially when he was growing up,” says Pallavi.

Although he started out as a painter, Nandagopal’s admiration for seminal Indian sculptors such as PV Janakiram and Dhanraj Bhagat, coupled with his father’s desire to be different from the mold and medium, led him to copper, brass and stainless steel . Elements reminiscent of the South Indian mythology incorporated in the work of the movement’s artists are also seen here.

Art confirmed that he was not a particularly religious person. Nevertheless, the symbols and characters he encountered often remained fresh in his memory, and appeared later in his work. “Earlier sculptures were inspired by Hero Stone and Sati Stone concepts,” says Kala.

His interest in literature, in particular the work of Ernest Hemingway, is reflected in his Fisherman series, a tribute to literary giants. The old man and the ocean.

A watercolor work done by Nandagopal between 2014 and 2016. photo credit: special arrangement

All of his enamel sculptures are small-scale, with a hint of color: “He often said they were like jewels,” Pallavi says. Also, large-scale (12 ft by 23 ft) sculptures are often simplified by the artist, making it more accessible to public spaces.

Nandagopal’s photographs sprinkled through the narrative along with these monumental works. TeaThat mythical and magical, 56 minute documentary Which depicts Nandagopal’s artistic journey from his youth through a delightful collage of rarely seen photographs, and will feature the accounts of art critics and journalists from his early days.

All works are on sale. The show will run from October 7 to 13 at Focus Art Gallery, Alwarpet. The screening of the film will take place on October 7 and 8.