‘Farasnama’: Creating a portrait of Muzaffar Ali’s mind
Summary
An upcoming exhibition offers a glimpse of the many dialogues taking place around music, films, art and the equine within the artist-filmmaker’s subconscious
There has always been a sense of mysticism—a meditative stillness—in Muzaffar Ali’s art. He finds inspiration in Rumi, Sufism and the richness of Hindustani classical music. And in the coming days, one will get to see all of those influences on display at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Bikaner House, New Delhi, in his latest show, Farasnama–Legend of the Horse. Opening on 19 October, just two days before the artist-filmmaker’s birthday, the exhibition features sketches made over four decades, a new set of canvases and bronzes on his favourite subject—the horse. In fact, this is the first time that Ali has extended his visual language to include sculptures and calligraphy.
There is a certain spirit of the cinematic that enters these works, with the imagery charged with movement and a fluid narrative. Curated by art historian-scholar Uma Nair, the exhibition has been divided into thematic segments, beginning with sketches of horses as well of Rumi, followed by portraits of Zooni, “a legend from Kashmir, which lingers like an unfinished poem in the artist’s mind," states the exhibition note.
Ali likes to surround himself with art, and his home, Kotwara House, features an eclectic selection. He has always called his home a sacred space, one that serves as a backdrop for a constant dialogue with himself and his craft. There,he lives with his wife, architect-designer Meera, his beloved dogs and horse, Barak, which came to him in 2014. “When you go now to his home, you’ll find his dogs sleeping and stretching in a little studio that he’s set up. It’s a wonderful sight," says Nair, who had curated his earlier exhibition as well at the Bikaner House two years ago. This time, she has tried to convey to viewers how this “dreamer and poet" still has a burning desire to keep reinventing himself as an artist.
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Nair has worked closely with Meera—who is not only Ali’s partner but also collaborator on most projects—on the design of the exhibition. The rooms, within which the works are being placed, represent the various moods and stations in life. One of the sections, Zooni, represents an unfinished chapter of Ali’s life—a film starring Dimple Kapadia and Vinod Khanna, which never got completed. This is followed by Equus, a larger series with stallions and mares against different backgrounds to celebrate the equine figure as a representation of courage, valour and vitality. Painted against pale backgrounds, the stallions and mares are juxtaposed against abstract forms.
Then there are sculptures in bronze along with belt buckles, besides a new section on calligraphy, wherein he takes the Urdu script and gives it an architectural dimension. “He’s a calligraphic modernist," says Nair, comparing him to modernist J. Sultan Ali, who incorporated calligraphy and script as part of his art.
“In Farasnama, the horse becomes the spine of the exhibition," says Nair. Ali has drawn on his experience of growing up with horses, having studied the animals closely. “I have painted horses before, but this time, the animal is depicted bolder with stronger brushstrokes. The colours are more vibrant, and the detailing, more pronounced," says Ali.
He is not the only Indian artist to be fascinated with the horse. Modernist M.F. Husain, throughout his practice, tried to evoke the gait, stance and movement of the equine, while painter Sunil Das created drawings and paintings of nearly 7,000 horses between 1950 and 1960. “He creates in Horse a palpable tension with the movement of the animal, which renders in strong, bold lines," mentions an essay on the DAG website. However, Ali maintains that the subject of the equine can be interpreted in a vast number of ways by different artists. “My horses are free, in conversation with themselves or others, almost meditative. The animal is both local and universal in context. I want to convey the universality. I look at the horse as the subject that unites the world…" he says.
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This show also posed a unique challenge as Ali was delving into sculpture for the first time. However, he counted this as an opportunity. A social media video of the artist, creating an initial sculptural mould of a horse for the exhibition, shows him working deftly with his hands, completely immersed in the experience. For him, the act of sketching is also of prime importance. “Be it my fashion work, furniture designs, large canvases, sculptural pieces, all of them emerge from sketches. I’m always sketching and doodling away in my sketchbook. It allows me a sense of ‘surety’," he says. “Drawing is an inward journey of an artist, allowing him to understand the self even better."
Music plays a huge role in Ali’s life. He started Jahan-e-Khusrau in 2001, with performances taking place, over the years, at Arab ki Sarai, Delhi, where Amir Khusrau is believed to have started the qawwali music tradition. Over the years, artists such as Abida Parveen, Shafqat Ali Khan and Nizami Brothers have been part of the festival. And even now, as we speak about the exhibition, the conversation inevitably veers towards the musical contributions of Khusrau. He is particularly interested in Ustad Amir Khan’s research on taranas,the melodic structures behind the musical technique of the maqam, and more.
A strong believer in being one with the moment, Ali is not worried about the outcome of the exhibition. Rather, he is concerned if one of his pets—a Saluki Salvador—will be allowed into the show. “He was there the last time. He’s very well-behaved. I hope they’ll let him in his time, too," says Ali.
Abhilasha Ojha is a Delhi-based art and culture writer.
