Feminine Fables

Kanchan Chandra celebrates feminine mystique , writes Nirupama Dutt

The torso is a much-celebrated form in sculpture since ancient times in both classical and folksy traditions with the unclothed human figure worked out in perfect proportions in a symphony of harmonious beauty. One of the most famous torsos of the Greek Hellenistic period is that of Goddess Aphrodite. It dates back to 4th century BC. The torso is worked out in fascinating positions in the tradition of Indian iconography. Seeking inspiration from the allure of the headless busts, painter Kanchan Chander has used this form to make a contemporary statement, both as an artist and as a woman. There is an amazing simplicity as well as delicacy as she tackles the monumental proportions of the female bust.
In her creative journey, this artist moves through layers of experience to celebrate the feminine mystique. Born in Delhi’s Karol Bagh, Chander got a chance to study art in Germany and Chile as her father was in the Indian Foreign Service. Later she got a scholarship to study printmaking at Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. In 1993, she got a British Council fellowship to visit art institutions in London and study contemporary art. The exposure provided to her abroad, Along with an intense Indian experience, has gone into shaping her work. Chander seeks forms from Shakti and then moves to the experience of motherhood, which is both personal and universal.
In the female torsos, she address both sexuality and fertility – the female energy that shapes the world of Indian textiles in her art. ``This happens because I have been translating the femainine experience in my works,’’ says Chander. ``It is amazing to see the trouble women take to search out these embellishments from shops tucked away in narrow lanes. For many women, adorning the self is power.’’Her recent torsos are worked in silver and gold leaf on painted canvas. In these works she reaches out to a fine abstraction from within the figurative form.
She has also been adventurious in the frames and supports for her paintings. When she renovated her home, she did not feel like discarding the doors and windows. And these became props for her paintings. Her painted windows and doors were a complete sellout. ``But I did not repeat the exercise because just in case they had remained with me, how would I have stored them,’’she says with a laugh. Yet another of her experiment which has come in for a log of appreciation is painting on thakktis or wooden boards which are still used as slates by primary school children in remote areas.
Flor Chander, the aesthetic experience is never at odds with her social responses. Art for her cannot exist in a vacuum and both the creator and the creation are placed in a given social situation. Yet as a woman, she shows the openness of the post-feminist times in which she does not shy away from reclaiming the skills which old granny knew so well. Thus the brilliant poetry of her sequined cow by the vivid blue river or beads which clothe her torso.
Here is an artist who celebrates feminity in form and content: the painter of the new century who is not apologetic for being a woman and painting like one. As her friend and collaborative artist Helen Geier puts it: ``The ebbs and flows of Kanchan’s life have spilled over in her work, both consciously and subconsciously.’’ The outcome is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the mind.