The simplicity of his art

Calcutta artist Lalu Prasad Shaw's works are as Indian in idiom as they are Western in styling.

Lalu Prasad Shaw's artwork is noted for his economic use of lines. Incidentally, he also practices economy of speech; he is endearingly shy. This septuagenarian artist was in Mumbai for his first ever solo showing in the city; in fact, he hasn't even been part of a group show here in 15 years.

For someone who showed at the British and Paris Biennales early in his career, that comes as a bit of a surprise. It took some egging on from friends and contemporaries Suhas Roy and Chittrovanu Majumdar to get him to consider his Mumbai buyers. "I have no fascination for this city, or any other," he says with a smile.

Santiniketan has, however, held its sway on him for long years now. Despite having retired from a 25-year career in teaching at Kala Bhavan, he continues to maintain a home there and visit. It is that rustic milieu that provided him with the subjects for his highly stylised tempera portraits of men and women.

Fresh, bright and bold, Shaw's works enjoy broad-based appeal.(Notably, he has the same self-composed air of his subjects.) Partly also because of their ability to straddle sophistication in a Western connotation with their distinctly Indian idiom, making Shaw's a very unique style combining traditional folk art styles with more Western academic stylistic elements. "I do make a conscious effort to be Indian in my work," he says.

Like Ganesh Pyne, Jogen Chowdhury and many others of his generation, Shaw graduated from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta. And like them, Shaw found the linear Kalighat patas an inspirational source for his art practice.

Though commonly known for his paintings of what are commonly referred to as "babus and bibis", it is printmaking that Shaw excels at. Ironically, the languishing of the Kalighat pata tradition is often attributed in part to the onslaught of the then emerging printing processes "" lithography, oleography and block-printed pictures.

In "Sepia Notes", as his solo showing was christened, he returns to his predisposition for print making; there is a distinct graphical quality to the works. Those expecting to see his famed temperas were caught unawares. The monochromatic crayon drawings are a sharp departure from the density and depth of colour in his temperas. "They both do have the same linear quality and the simplified forms," he points out.

Those in the know will recognise objects playfully borrowed from previous works, old favourites like the human busts on the table, the butterflies and the flower vase. Most works are either still life or nature drawings, with his recognisable geometric motifs.

Where the works want for colour, Shaw plays with light and shade to create dimension. Ill-health and a cataract prevent him from indulging in the tediousness of the tempera medium these days. In fact, it took all of two and a half years to assemble 35 works for this solo show. "I ended up annoying my gallerists because I was out of touch," he says.

Shaw is loyal to his gallerists. He doesn't care for interacting directly with his buyers. "They have become quite troublesome, constantly calling me, trying to bypass galleries to get their discounts," he says.

Shaw reveals he has never had a studio. "I used to sit on the floor and paint. Now I own a table and chair, but only because of my bad back." He is, self-admittedly, no longer prolific, working only two or three hours a day.

In one corner of the Art Musings gallery, a single tempera work in brilliant hues of blue sits self-consciously alongside the rest. It's not for sale. Sangeeta Chopra, the gallerist, has to plead with him for one for the gallery's collection. The crayon drawings are sold out.

"There's so much diversity of expression within this one medium, from figurative to still life; buyers have enjoyed the experimentation," points out Chopra. Shaw, however, has the final word "" "I don't want there to be any intellectual interpretations of these works, they're just simple works that everyone can enjoy."