Septuagenarian Narayanrao Kavatekar, popularly known as K Narayanrao, over a period of time, has mastered the art of creating various Gods with the help of building construction materials like sand, cement and iron. This may sound interesting to you for having been used to Gods in stone since ancient times and these days with glass, wood, plastic materials and plaster of Paris, among many others.
A family heritage of artists and sculptors: According to Vishal Kavatekar, faculty in College of Fine Arts, Karnataka Chitra Kala Parishat, Bengaluru and son of K Narayanrao-“Ours is a family with a background and heritage of artists and sculptors. In fact, our father Narayanrao’s grandfather (mother’s father) Tippaji of Shikaripur is a well-revered name in the history of the state’s traditional fine art forms. He was not just well versed in almost all forms of traditional arts practised during that period but went a step further in emerging innovation in comparison to the styles in practice. Even Parasappa was also way ahead of the usual practices of that period of time…
…Inclination towards art since childhood: Thanks to such a family background, it was quite natural that my Dad developed an inclination towards art right from childhood. No doubt, no one can command mastery in any skill without incessant individual hard efforts. Although he never went to any art school for formal education in arts it was no deterrent for him to voluntarily plunge into the art world to evolve into a full-fledged artist”.
Exhibition of different artworks: Recently K Narayanrao held an exhibition of his artworks including sketches, landscapes, paintings, illustrations, cement concrete works and likewise. Vishal Katvekar reminisces-“All his artworks are a depiction of the influence and learning from the works of SM Pundit, Dalal Art Studio calendars, artefacts from V Shantaram films and illustrations from the dailies and weeklies published during his early days. All of them were not merely a source of inspiration for him to adapt but also apt tools for imbibing the varied art forms in practice. He did all such preparation for the love and respect he had for his work and to make double sure that nothing went wrong in ensuring utmost dignity to all his works”.
A great contribution: It looks, exclaims Vishal Katvekar-“There was a grave necessity of adopting a new and innovative approach to enable different perspectives for temple architecture in Karnataka. In other words, there was also a demand for an alternative medium and a new generation of artisans who could gear up to the emerging challenges. Probably, K Kashinath, our father’s elder brother visualized such an inevitable challenge. This gigantic task commenced during the 1960-70 decades and our father K Narayanrao, also joined hands with his elder brother in the mission”.
Cement sculpture and temple tower: Cement sculpting is an interesting process of making sculptures deploying cement as the base material and also it goes without saying that Cement is an important ingredient in the finished product concrete. And as is well known, concrete is a mixture of cement, a binder like stone, sand or gravel with water. A mixture of such ingredients sets a chemical process called hydration into motion. While mixed first, concrete has a heavy and paste-like consistency, however thanks to hydration, it gradually becomes extremely hard, although it should be kept damp as it hardens. Once, the process is complete, it is impervious to water. Cast concrete is sometimes also referred to as ‘cast stone’.
Significant role: Recalling the great work done by his father and his elder brother, Vishal Katvekar says-“The role of our father’s elder brother and father towards the construction of temple tower and sculpture form in Karnataka is significant. If, elder brother Kashinath was building temple towers in an innovative fashion so was his younger brother creating sculptures in tune with the new style of construction. In fact, our father has been cautious enough in ensuring intricate design and artistry to the sculptures only befitting them and not beyond. Hence, all his works wore a mature look. Irrespective of his workplace being a village, town or city and whether people of the location have an artistic taste or not, our father did his work religiously and more for self-satisfaction”.
Experiments all along: “K Narayanrao never limited himself to sculpting divine characters within the temples. He also experimented with moving objects during the Ganesha festival and Mysuru Dasara tableau. On the other hand, he went on experimenting all along taking the challenges on the way as he believed in new avenues opening up while experimenting”, explains Vishal Katvekar.
Enriching helped milestones: He also feels-“The urge to excel in his works and consistent efforts to enrich the capabilities helped our father in accomplishing many milestones later. For instance, in 2005 he sculpted a sixty feet tall Hanuman statue, carrying Ram and Lakshman on both shoulders in Tumakuru. Likewise, he also sculpted an 82 feet tall Veeranjaneya idol near Kundapur. Among similar other structures include the 45 feet high Shiva at Hubballi in 2010 and another Shiva at Nanded in Maharashtra”.
Grooming next generation: “K Narayanrao, during his course of journey with cement and concrete has also given rise to several disciples all along. They have been following in his footsteps in the specialized art and continue the tradition of contributing to the culture of the land. Perhaps, it is high time that a thorough study is initiated to analyze the change in our cultural patterns”, he suggests.
Sculptures across the country: K Narayanrao has sculpted cement and concrete idols not in his native state alone but across the country as well. To name a few, he has sculpted the idols at Marikamba temple in Sagar, Anegudde temple, Gangavatarana at Lalitodyana in Dharmasthala, 51 feet Panchamukhi Anjaneya and Panchamukhi Parameshwara at Surendrapuri, near Hyderabad in Telangana and 18 feet Anjaneya in Patiala. There is no dearth of accolades from the public and the state government for his contribution.
-Manohar Yadavatti
Amazing personality. It's a tough art.
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