Excerpts of an Interview with Artist Indrapramit Roy by architect Poonam Jolly

published at https://www.boathouseindia.com/interview-with-indrapramit-roy/

PJ: Describe your journey as an artist

?Indro: The journey began very early, actually. I was always interested in drawing and painting, which was encouraged by my parents. My family was very deeply invested in the arts. My father was in theatre all his life. He was a theatre actor first and then became a director, editor and playwright. He joined one of the oldest theatre group Bohurupee in 1949 and ran it from 1979 ?for over a quarter of a century. Till his last breath, theatre was something that occupied him. But he was additionally interested in all the related arts because he felt that theatre is a composite art in which visual art also plays a major role. He also was a professor in the Drama department of Rabindra Bharati university, Kolkata and he had colleagues who are from visual arts faculty. So, from a very early age, I was exposed to theatre as well as visual arts. I used to visit exhibitions when I was like six, seven years old. I have very distinct memories of some very important exhibitions. ...

PJ : You come from a theatre background. Has it played any role in your work? In your art or your expression?

Indro: Yes. Because if I look back at my body of work, I see a certain theatricality coming into it; the placement of objects, my intertest in light. These are sort of obvious things. But if I take an overview of the works, one would see that they are like sets where things have either already happened or yet to happen. Because they talk about the human presence. But the human presence is not in the shape of human figures. They are present in their absence. So, if there would be one way of looking at those spaces that implies a theatrical connotation because they are like spaces which are either ready to receive the actors or the players have done their bit and just left.

Either way, there is theatre. I think, yes, it has been there at the back of my mind and does play a role. Although, calling something theatrical is a pejorative term in the high modernist ethos of the 20th century art. ...

PJ: Describe one day in the life of Indro.

Indro: Usually on a working day, I spend my the daytime in teaching,? that is six days a week. So, mornings, afternoons, I’m at the Faculty, when I go home in the evening, I take a break. Then I have things to do, I mean, you're running a house and there is a social life, there are social visits, exhibitions. I figured out that the best time that I can devote to myself is usually after 9:30- 10:00 in the evening. Then the time is quieter, you can be more focused without the distraction of, you know, phone calls or somebody knocking on your door or you having to go somewhere. So I have always been a nocturnal person so as far as my practice is concerned, almost 95% of it, is done at night. Then it can continue because there is no deadline. Sometimes I am there in my studio till 3:00- 4:00 in the morning which... It's a bit of a stretch because next day becomes a bit difficult, but that's how it has been. So, that is a typical day. Of course, it was very different when? the lockdown happened. I had the luxury after many, many years to spend long hours in the studio, which I enjoyed thoroughly. It resulted in a suit of works called the Soliloquy, which was exhibited in Baroda, then travelled to Delhi and Calcutta.

P. J: There is a lot of architectural imagery in your work. You know, like you drew something from Egypt.

Indro: That happened more recently. Like I said, it is about human habitation, essentially even when they use the trope of a traditional landscape. I am very attracted to landscapes, vast spaces. But somehow, when I’m painting my inclination kind of pushes me towards the urban scape. They’re layered like invisible cities. The city that you see is not the only city. There are layers and layers and layers and you can spend a whole lifetime and still discover hidden layers. A city never reveals itself fully. I think, it all started when I started traveling by air. Then you get these over views of cities, which triggered something in me. The view from above opened different feelings, different emotional registers; seeing a city from the air was one of the triggers that I remember. But from very early days, when I was in London doing my second Master’s, I was already interested in urban spaces. I spent five years in Shantiniketan, which is a sort of semi-rural area. That was my closest encounter with nature. But I grew up in a city. I live in a city, I am quite an urbane person. I think cities are very intriguing places. And they’re not just constructions and buildings. They’re also holders of ideas, emotions. The way we are going, I think urbanisation is the future of humankind, whether we like it or not.

P. J: Any tips for emerging artists or students who wish to take up fine arts as a subject of study? Because it’s becoming less and less popular, isn’t it?

Indro: No, no, on the contrary. It’s becoming more and more popular but sometimes for the wrong reasons. In the popular press art works selling for millions in auctions are the only time you hear about art or else it is about controversies. That is getting into art from the wrong end of the spectrum. I think you should be getting into art if you are passionate about it and it’s not about money. It’s certainly not the money. As a career choice, there are options that you can do to make a living. So nobody goes begging after doing a course in art. The popular perception is that either you become M.F. Husain or you are living in a garret begging for money. That is not the case. There are many other options. There are people who have gone into teaching, graphic design, product design, set design, light design, animation, cinematography, fashion or costume design and all kinds of creative professions after doing a degree in painting or sculpture.

?So, if you don’t become a professional artist, which is about 20% of my students choose to do, the rest find other niche areas of interest. We are living in a century which is primarily a visual century. So visual artist will always be in demand, no matter whether you want to be a professional artist or a designer or something related to it.