Artist Profile Badri Narayan

This feature appeared in The Deccan Herald dated 26th September 2004


Badri Narayan is a lot like his work, disarmingly gentle and simple, yet with a depth of meaning waiting to be discovered in his simple sentences, his stories, his illustrations and indeed, in all his art.

The recent exhibitions at Mumbai and Bangalore that highlight his paper and water color series emphasise this quality.

Born in Secunderabad, then part of the Nizam Dominions, Badri Narayan discovered that painting and story telling were skills that came to him, early in life.
He began writing for children, as well as providing illustrations for the stories.
Moving to Bombay, the artist continued with his labour of love, painting scenes from mythology, conducting workshops for children, as well as writing and illustrating mythological stories for children, like the beautifully produced Orient Longman illustrated “Mahabharata” and “Ramayana.”

This close association with children and belief in their art as well as the power of simplicity are profound influences on Badri’s art.
He has over the years, explored the nature of reality and the principles of religion through his stories and sketches.

In his works, archetypal figures like Prakriti, the artist and the wise man inhabit vibrantly washed worlds in shades of rusts, ochres, yellows and blues.

Clean, uncluttered lines delineate visages tranquil and ageless, yet firmly standing in the moment. Badri uses a wealth of mythological and aesthetic tradition in an exploration of both the spiritual and the artistic, his use of motifs like the drifting boat, the castaway garment and symbols like the unicorn and the elephant situate the artist’s personal quest in ancient philosophical traditions.

This is perhaps inevitable, given the artist’s deep involvement with Hindu and Buddhist philosophies as well as their wealth of mythology.

The book lined shelves of his studio at Sion in Central Bombay, bear voluminous witness to the weight of his philosophical leanings from The Puranas to the Jatakas, to Aurobindo and a “Survey of World Civilizations.”

This philosophical bent is what distinguishes his paintings, which frequently feature the exploring artist in several forms, whether in self portrait or as the wise man, the monk or the pilgrim.

Besides Hindu mythology, Buddhism and its tenets also recur.
The artist’s paintings of the Buddha and the Buddhist monk spring from this belief, as does the elephant, for the elephant is, as the artist explains, an illustration of the great principle of a unique combination of strength with gentleness.
Badri relates the pithy simplicity of the ancient mythological parable to the art of the child.

The aesthetic of children’s art was only recognised as late as the 20th century, and the artist states a favorite quote of Picasso’s, “Not for me the horses of Parthenon, but the rocking horse of my childhood.”

Badri’s own stories and illustrations, as well as his water colors seem to hark back to this intuitive expression, using story, mythology and vibrant color to create a mythical narrative world.

The uncertainties and paradoxes of this realm are reflected in the shadows and dark spaces as well as use of devices like the drifting boat, yet the overall mood is one of lightness and brightness, a sense of peace and of hope.