LIVING

How the pandemic inspired artists

By Shaikh Ayaz
29 December, 2021

Artists are known for flourishing in isolation. The COVID-19 lockdown, however, was challenging for them as well

Paresh Maity loves nature. What he loves even more, is to paint from it. That's why the lockdown of last year was profoundly unnerving for him, at least initially when life as we knew it suddenly hit a pause. "I live in Delhi, which gets unbearably hot in the summer. Every year, I leave for the hills for an artists retreat where I usually spend time with myself and work in peace," says Maity, who is a bit of a nomad, having spent many decades travelling across India. "I can't do without travel," he admits. "But this time, I couldn't go. For the first time, I felt life could be so limiting," laughs the artist best known for lambent watercolours depicting eternally optimistic landscapes. In March 2020, in an unprecedented move, India imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns to contain the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases. Homebound at his Greater Kailash residence (which also, fortunately, houses his studio), Maity describes the first weeks of the 2020 lockdown as "pure agony." The moment somewhat reminded Maity of his childhood in rural Tamluk near Kolkata, but the difference being that "back then, I was free as a bird. Here, there was no freedom. I couldn't go to the park as I pleased."

In confinement, Maity discovered his old unfinished canvases, and he promptly set about reworking them, trying perhaps to bring them to their logical end. "What surprised me the most was that in the last 30 years I couldn't finish those works. I never got enough time," he says, adding that he used this break to paint with abandon, without any pressure from galleries and collectors. He also noticed that his themes had undergone subtle changes. "Now, my motto is 'minimum work, maximum expression.'"

Dhruvi Acharya found herself being highly prolific in the midst of the pandemic

Paresh Maity feels artists need solitude, but not one with fear attached to it

Creativity in isolation

But isn't isolation precisely what artists seek? Isn't creativity a product of hours of being lonely in your studio? Maity gives it some thought before replying, "It's true that artists work alone, but you can't compare the COVID-19 related isolation with this. Probably what you mean is that artists need their solitude, but that is voluntary, unlike COVID-19, which had fear attached to it."

Like Maity, the overarching emotion for fellow artist Dhruvi Acharya was one of fear, loss and grief. "Fear of the virus, disease and death, and of the uncertain times ahead," she tells us from her Mumbai studio. "As humans, we like social interactions, and even as an artist working alone, sometimes it was difficult not to see family and friends." For some, Acharya's Amar Chitra Katha-tinted art, with its contemplative female protagonist reflecting her anxieties in a thought bubble, might serve to capture something of the lockdown effect—albeit unintentionally. Most painters and sculptors have reported that the lockdown has helped unlock their creative potential.

Acharya found herself being highly prolific in much of 2020, producing a stunning body of new work that was exhibited digitally by Mumbai's Chemould Prescott Road gallery. Painting in the Time of Corona was the artist's heartfelt response to the pandemic sufferings, not only her own but of million others, particularly the migrant workers who fled cities to the comforts of their far-off villages. She says, "The lockdown didn't affect my ability to work. Of course, not being able to go for my daily swim or to even step out for a walk was difficult, but knowing about and reading about the tough situations of daily wage earners or people getting sick and dying alone, I also felt grateful." It was the anxiety and stress due to the sudden lockdown and the fear of the virus "that led me to go to my studio and just paint my thoughts and fears."

"It's true that artists work alone, but you can't compare the COVID-19 related isolation with this. Probably what you mean is that artists need their solitude, but that is voluntary, unlike COVID-19, which had fear attached to it."
Paresh Maity

For Shailesh BR, the pandemic provided ample time to pause, reflect and rethink

The young Shailesh BR was one such artist who found himself stuck in a galaxy far away—the sea-swept Nice to be precise, where he had gone for his solo exhibition opening. His show opened on February 14, 2020, and within a month, COVID-19 invaded France, and Europe closed its borders. While awaiting evacuation flights, Shailesh started work on a series (the Vasanta Series) portraying the lush landscape around his living area in Nice. "My practice reflects what I observe, experience and contemplate. Even though we were restricted as civilians yet I felt free as an artist. It provided ample time to take a pause, reflect, rethink and plan," says the MSU fine arts Baroda graduate whose work reimagines everyday objects through a philosophical lens. Shailesh used the time in France to introspect but was finally relieved when he returned to his Delhi studio. "The pandemic's biggest takeaway for me—I am quoting a shloka here—was that life is like a sugarcane," he says. "It has to go through the crusher to give out its sweetness."