For over six decades now, his colour-splashed canvases have adorned the walls of galleries like Pundole and Chemould. But we have seen very little of the artist, Ram Kumar. Now as the 83-year-old, , a contemporary of the biggies of Indian art like M.F. Husain, S H Raza and Akbar Padamsee, puts together an exhibition in early February dedicated to none other than Kekoo Gandhy, the founder of Chemould Art Gallery, he is emerging from his cocoon to share both his canvases and memories.

“I thought of organising the show as a homage to Kekoo since it’s been a while that I exhibited at his gallery. The new space, at Chemould Prescott, which I have yet to see sounds exciting but this exhibition was not done with that gallery in mind. It is a suite of oil on canvas executed in 2007, and was recently exhibited in London at the Grosbener Gallery,” says the Shimla-born painter, who likes to hole himself up in his studio in east Delhi and seldom ventures out.
Kumar’s link with Gandhy goes back to 1964 when he first exhibited at Chemould. The artist then was a new figure in the Bombay Progressives and had just made friends with S.H. Raza. Gandhy was the owner of one of the first private galleries to open at the Kala Ghoda area in Mumbai and went on to sponsor shows of prominent artists like Husain, K.H. Ara and Raza.

“After that landmark show, there were a number of occasions when I have shown at Gandhy’s gallery and we have always been friends. This is my first big attempt to show my feelings and return his warmth and friendship,” says Kumar.
Gandhy, too, has good memories of those days. “After the opening, we had all gone to Kihim beach for a picnic. Husain and Ram were sitting on a wall and Husain was showing us how to give a foot massage by just pressing the soft of your foot against the hard wall. That is the kind of time we had in those days of leisure,” recalls Gandhy. Whenever Kumar would visit Gandhy, he would insist that he stay at his Bandra residence. “I have seen his son grow and watched his art moved from figurative to the abstract he is known for now,” he says.

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