For sixty long years, Surya Prakash has been bringing his thoughts alive on canvas. So, when Manvinder Dawer, who heads the India Fine Art gallery in Mumbai, came up with the idea of a retrospective show on the man which could take place in October, he approached him. “I wondered if this was the right time. It then struck me, that I finally arrived after 60 long years and so the show had to be done,” says Surya Prakash.
A mammoth task
In retrospective, deciding to work on the show might have been the easier option, because the real hard work was in sourcing the art that Surya Prakash created in the last six decades.
“We have several of his current works but have to really scout for his previous ones. We’ll use this time to contact collectors for it, check the condition of the works and then see how it turns out,” says Manvinder.
Surya’s journey in art was a very steady process. He didn’t have an impressive matriculation mark sheet, but used to paint right from his childhood. “With such low marks, I realised that no college would give me an admission. Then I heard of the College of Fine Arts in Hyderabad and took up a course there,” says the artist, who once didn’t know how to paint landscapes.
“I was clueless. Then I attended a workshop on landscape painting by artist Anjaiah. It took just 15 minutes to notice how he created his works. Those 15 minutes were the most crucial moments of my life as I picked up the technique there,” he says.
The next day, Surya Prakash along with a few others visited the Monda market where he painted the entire market scene. “I think the Clock Tower was there in the background too,” he says. After that class, Surya would just go to the old city, sit there and paint the place on the canvas. “But none of those works exist today. They all got lost,” he rues.
One of Surya Prakash’s earliest artworks.
The big change and a loss
After his BFA, Surya landed a government job with the Information Public Relations department. “That was a comfortable job but it really wasn’t my calling. My dream was to become an artist and so I quit the job after three years when I saved Rs 3,000, a huge deal back then,” he says with a smile.
The artist then left to Delhi for six months to study with artist Ram Kumar with a scholarship from Lalit Kala Akademi in AP and his passion. “Delhi was the turning point. I got a lot of exposure. My work got selected for the National Art fair and I won a cash prize of Rs 1,000 and the painting got sold for Rs 700. Back then that was a huge amount and one could live comfortably in Hyderabad for six months.”
During his stay in Delhi, Surya Prakash also made time to go to Kashmir for 20 days. But things were about to change when he came back to Hyderabad. “I had left a big box of all my artworks at the Akademi in Hyderabad. I didn’t have a place to store my works so I left it there, but when I came back, the entire box was missing. I was a little sad, but it didn’t affect me much since I was only focussing on the future. So I didn’t pursue it,” he says.
But now, looking back at that point, he expresses disappointment. “Today I realise the value of those artworks. I know how much they would fetch but more than the money, I realise that those works were a reminder of my life in that phase,” he says.
The works that were lost took with them everything that he had created till then — the landscapes painted during his student years, the abstract art etc. — all was lost.
Surya Prakash with Laxma Goud and Davraj, clicked during their ‘garage’ days.
Moving on — The ‘garage’ days
When he moved on from that loss, things started to look very different for him. “I met Laxma Goud and artist Davraj. We started our small studio in a garage in Himayathnagar. We would work together and it became a cultural hub of sorts for us. Every artist from other cities, who were visiting Hyderabad, would hangout there. We would have chai, bhajjis and sometimes just rum. Rum was quite cheap back then,” he says.
The trio would go on to be part of several shows and make a name for themselves. “We did a lot of shows and slowly put Hyderabad on the art scene. My works also started selling for a good amount; a painting of mine would sell for Rs 300 and so I managed to make ends meet,” he says.
“It was a slow and steady process. I did lose patience and there were times when things were difficult, but I survived. Sometimes when I look back and think what would have happened if I hadn’t left my job and moved on to Delhi — I would have been just another person with a government job. Things just happened one after the other — there was no rush — this was how I arrived,” he adds.
Manvinder Dawer
Surya Prakash is a senior artist who has done a lot of great work over the years, someone who keeps doing good work even now. In fact, every time I visit him, there is a new addition of work and that adds dimension to his already existing art. Someone like him needs to be celebrated and this show will do just that. We’ve started looking for people who have collected his work. It’s a huge task but we’re sure we’ll pull it off.
Manvinder Dawer
WRITE TO US
If you are a collector of art and have artworks by Surya Prakash, you can get in touch with us. Write to us at editor@deccanmail.com with the subject line ‘Art by Surya Prakash’ and let us know about the work of the artist and the year, with a photo of the art.
