Sivaprasad Marar

He infuses life into stone, wood, fibre, and creates poetry without words. Sculptor Siva Prasad Marar has a great future, predicted Nilmoni Phukan, the grandfatherly figure of contemporary art in Assam, but as of now he is a struggling artiste, though certainly a very promising one.

His home these days is a dilapidated room on the premises of Assam Fine Art and Crafts Society, Guwahati. This is the same room where the Nilpawan Barua lived. ?This phase, too, will not last forever, probably masterpieces are created after one goes through pain and agony,? he says.

Making himself comfortable, he says, ?These days I am working for my forthcoming exhibition and trying to arrange for sponsorship.? The history of Chattisgarh and the indigenous arts of Assam, carved on bamboo and papier mache frames, will be on display at the exhibition.

Marar traces his roots to Chattisgarh. His great grandfather migrated to Assam from the then Madhya Pradesh to work in the tea gardens.

Marar was born in 1972 in the village called Geruabari in Biswanath Chariali.

A trained sculptor, Marar did his Bachelor in fine arts from the Government College of Art and Crafts, Assam. Then, he did his Masters from Indira Kala Sangeet University, Khairagarh, in Chattisgarh. He also holds a certificate degree in museum and mass education from Indira Kala Sangeet University.

Winner of 74th state-level exhibition from the All India Fine Art and Craft Society in Assam, 2002, for his work titled Maa, Marar?s works reflect his reverence for the mother figure.

?In Maa, I have represented my personal image of a perfect mother showering love and affection on her children and dedicating everything to provide best of life to her children,? he says.

?Most of my works revolve around womanhood. I have celebrated their fertility and their unique ability in giving birth, which stands next only to God.? One of Marar?s creation, Existence, made from fibreglass, was selected for the 46th national exhibition of Lalit Kala Akademi in Kerala last year. He also showed some of his finest works at the recently-concluded first Northeast State Art Exhibition at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra. The creation was highly appreciated by R.K. Bhaskaran, chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi.

His first solo exhibition was held at Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, Guwahati, way back in 1999, which established him as an artiste of high calibre among his fellow artistes as well as stalwarts.

Other important exhibitions, which showcased his works were the 45th national exhibition (regional focus by Rastriya Lalit Kala Kendra) at Calcutta in 2002, All India Drawing Exhibition in Chandigarh in 2002 and a workshop of traditional mask-making of Assam at opening function of Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra in 1998.

His works are displayed in many museums and art galleries, including the the Kalakshetra, Dhowly Art College, Bhubaneswar and I.K.S. University, Khairagarh.

?Many of my sculptures are by now destroyed and some of them are lost,? rues Marar.

?Actually I have no private place of my own to store and protect them and most of them are in bad shape and I have no resources to renovate them.? Instead of waiting for finances to make metal artefacts, bronze and metals being expensive, Marar uses bamboo and papier mache to create huge pieces of sculpture.

?Occasionally I write poems as I cannot hold my thoughts for long,? he smiles. ?Some of them have been published but poetry is where I take succour from only for few moments but my real interest lies in sculpture.?

The massive terracotta figure titled Shelter, a pregnant lady taking the shape of a tree, underpins Marar?s obsession with the mother figure. Marar?s socio-cultural organisation Chitrapath, in Biswanath Chariali, is one of the most active organisations exhibiting art works in hotels and public places for access to common people.

?The idea behind the work of Chitrapath is taking out art from the art fraternity and make it a part of people?s day-to-day life,? he says.

?Chitrapath regularly organises poetry session and art exhibitions and I am happy to say that people?s participation has been enormous.?

Another Marar masterpiece, two egg-shaped pieces in a plate, titled The Great Creation, is his attempt to rectify his childhood mistake of eating up small eggs of birds from the nests.

?Egg epitomises the force from where a life can emerge and I greatly regret that once I killed the very structure from where life emerges without any rhyme and reason,? he laments.

The piece was greatly appreciated by Nilmoni Phukan and the veteran proudly declared that Marar as the artiste who has the potential to make Assam proud.

?I feel that in Assam artistes are hardly recognised. In most of the exhibitions, people come and see the works for 20-30 minutes and leave,? he says.

?Art pieces should be bought by people for the very survival and prosperity of art, otherwise artistes are either forced to abandon art or die the death of a beggar.? He not only laments people?s lack of interest in art but also opines that the wall between the common people and art has to be broken for free intermixing of everyone with art and culture.

Leading a Spartan life of great dedication to art, his works stand out because of his experiments, where he has attempted to use the best of indigenous art forms for the contemporary art scenario. The artiste is sure to carve out a niche for himself in the near future.