Pens, pencils, oil, acrylic, and colours
are some of the tools you would find in an artist’s world. These are not just ordinary materials that make
somebody an artist, but the command over these tools that sets them apart from
the ordinary.
Born to a family of artists beginning
with his painter father, Vikhor Tepa was inexplicably drawn to art since he was
six. Although art was never really a subject in school, he says, “we did have
drawing classes, which is normally a free period, but I’d make sure that I am
drawing something…it’s just the interest, the love of art that I kept drawing
in school.”
With such passion exhibited at a tender
age, it comes as no surprise that he has won over 15 awards as a high school
student both in the state and at the national level, the competitions, which,
he agrees, also encouraged him to pursue art further.
Over 20 decades of exploring art,
sketching, painting, sculpting and the like, by now, he has hundreds of artworks,
some of which adorns the homes of art lovers even in far flung places like the
USA and Japan, apart from the Kohima Art Museum. One of his works also
beautifies the walls of the prominent Indian Filmmaker, Shyam Benegal.
He has also exhibited his works at the
India Habitat Centre & India International Centre, New Delhi, as well as
the Reflection Art Gallery in Delhi, where he previously worked as a Curator
& Manager for 2 years, and of course, on numerous occasions in the state
including “Beloved”, which showcased some of his exclusive artworks and his
brother’s (Seyie Tepa), who is also a recipient of Governor’s Award in the
field of Art.
Vikhor Tepa studied English Literature
from Delhi University before he decided to pursue a 4 years’ degree in Fine
Arts from the College of Art, Delhi. This, actually drew a little hesitation
because although his father is an artist himself, art as a profession was never
really seen as a lucrative job.
But he recalls with contentment his
experience at the college of art and thereafter working at the Reflection Art
Gallery as Manager & Curator. With the focus mostly on conducting workshops,
looking into issues such as disparity, female infanticide, violence against
women, etc, he says, “it was a very different experience for me because my
inspiration is mostly from home, the people and the culture, but being part of
these workshops gave me a new experience and opened my mind to new issues,
which necessarily does not take place at home.”
He started with painting, got trained as
a painter, learned the use of oils, acrylic, water colours and the several
mediums and techniques with which art is born and created. It is obvious that
his energy went into painting, but he also picked photography along the way,
specifically, while he was in college. “I’d go out in the street and shoot…it’s
very different from home, very busy life out there, but being in the city gave
me a very different perspective to even capture things though my camera”, he
recalls.
He believes that there is a connection between
painting and photography in the sense that both things are pictures through
different mediums. Photography, he says, helps you capture the moment but emphasizes
that “painting has more emotion.” “There are some things I’d forget if I had
not taken the picture, and so photography helps me retain thoughts and ideas”,
he confesses.
Given a choice, he says, he would pick
painting any day although of late, he has been doing more of photography just
to get more command over photography.
There is also something called
“Installation Art” which is not confined to a gallery space. He experimented
his first installation at Mussoorie during an Art Retreat, wherein they
actually went outdoors to paint but the sight of a rock with a huge crack
inspired him to do something different and neatly filled the rock. Aptly called
“Healing the Wound”, Vikhor says that “sometimes you just make it and leave it
there, it is more of a permanent medium since installation art involves more
labour, effort and time.”
In the recent times, he has also been experimenting
“furniture designs”, some of his fine workds that include impressive lamps,
stools and other things, which, he calls it, some of his newer experiment. When
asked how this came about, he says, “been away from home for too long, I
realized that it is very difficult even to get a piece of wood in the city, but
when I came back, I found that there are so many things lying around me…with
those collection, I thought I’d make something.”
While on the other hand, he loves
outdoors, and would be trekking and hiking when not painting. The keen
adventurer in him has taken him to Dzükou as many as 7 times; he has also gone
trekking to Japfü, Puliebadze, Kapamodzü and is looking forward to exploring
Saramati soon. He doesn’t mind carrying around his camera that weighs 3 kgs
just because he does not want to regret later. Dzükou valley, one can see has
immensely fascinated him, which, is also why he has been there in all the
different seasons.
Talk of colours, and it’s back to
painting even as he quickly responds with “Green and Black”. Green, because it
signifies life and is the main product in Nagaland. We are always surrounded by
green and I feel alive when I see green, he explains, while black is because, it
is strong and although dark, it is only in the dark that something becomes
prominent, he adds.
Art, for him is something that can be
conveyed through pictures, colours, shades and is a self expression of the
Artist even as he strongly conveys that “Art is a very powerful tool and if not
used carefully, can be destructive not only for the artist but the society at
large.” His paintings often speak for themselves as they are very direct
projection. More on his art and he says, that “so far I’ve done mostly works
which has a story in it, to tell stories through art. Coming from an oral
culture with no recorded history, it’s like documenting a culture in a way.”
But to make art a profession is a real
challenge. “I would not be wrong to say that all artists struggle because no
doubt, art is expensive…it’s not just the product but the connection the
artists start to build. There are works that artists are not willing to part
for any price.”
He further enlightens that a painting is
expensive because it cannot be produced as a mass production. “It is a unique
piece although there is no guarantee that your work is going to sell.” However,
the consolation when you sell your art, he says, is that it is with someone and
it’s still there somewhere. He finds great joy in a finished work, just looking at a finished painting, sit there and
watching it for a long long time gives you satisfaction, not because it is
going to sell, but is a finished work.
Well, the love of art has taken him
places…he has attended and conducted workshops in several places across the
country including Delhi, Varanasi, Mussoorie, Dimapur, Kohima. He has judged
several painting competitions held on occasions such as World Bamboo Day, Fire
Safety Week, Rabindranath’s Birth Anniversary, Set Designs during Hornbill Ball
and also Doordarshan Kohima.
He won the first Hornbill Photo Hip Fest
Competition, and also featured in the consolation list for the same competition
last year while in painting, he is a winner in the 24th Nagaland State Art
exhibition from 1st-7th December 2009, as well as the Recipient of the Young
Talent award instituted by the NEZCC.
It is towards his endeavour in promoting
art that someday, he would like to set up a studio and have artists work
together on a weekly or monthly basis…a platform where public will have more
accessibility and not only the artists but the public will also understand art
better. One of his future plans also include an International Art Retreat
Centre, a place where artists and art lovers, writers, photographers, anyone
can come, set somewhere away from the city, just to be with fellow artists, and
also bring tourism to the state while enabling local artists and international
artists learn from each other. The Painter/Photographer/Art Teacher who also
gives home based art classes has recently formed a group called “Artists
Collective”, just to create an art movement, to meet and encourage each other.
To a young artist with such creativity,
only the sky is the limit.
No comments:
Post a Comment