Born to a family of Madhubani painters in Ranti, a village in Bihar, artist Avinash
Karn is the founder of Madhubani’s first art collective- “KACHNI-BHARNI ART GROUP”. His Madhubani paintings are aimed at changing the dynamics of this folk form that originated in the Mithila region in Bihar.
He has been practicing Madhubani Painting since very young age, as contributing in his family’s work by filling colors in the traditional motifs of trees, birds, flowers, images of gods. Later, he started painting on his own. As the years passed, Avinash went on to study fine arts (Sculpture) at the Benares Hindu University and increasingly found himself growing disenchanted with reproducing the same themes of Madhubani art.
While his aesthetic still adheres to the folk form, the paintings themselves are inspired by the world around him. Unlike the common Madhubani art—Avinash’s paintings use the Madhubani style to depict urban life, mostly in his cityscape paintings. His large canvas on Mumbai, depicts the city through the eyes of the artist in the traditional style but without compromising on the content of his observations. This work as one would see is not a touristy interpretation of the city of dreams. It is an honest and a clear picture of the places the artist came into contact with during his sojourn at Mumbai. Such unbiased visual depictions of a city could become part of a broader cultural narrative in future.
The 29-year-old has discarded traditions regular motifs, occasionally uses digital backgrounds for his paintings, as he likes to experiment with traditional elements with complete freedom.
Raised in a household of many women, he realized early on the true basis of his art practices is Nature. He depicts women in his works more from an understanding of the inseparability of femininity and creation than that of a male gaze which reduces it to a mere sensorial interpretation of a group of women. He has been a witness to the miracle of birth and death, timely and untimely and it has instilled a kind of continuous narrative evident in most of his works.
He draws images of the female body, of women giving birth and in one painting, titled ‘Invitation’, he endows a phallus with a vagina. In traditional Madhubani art, the narratives are often conservative in nature and stick to strict, socially accepted depictions with limited motifs and vocabulary. Hence as one goes through the whole works by the artist, one finds a fork in the road of his art practice. Without any sense of dichotomy, the artist reveals his exploratory side in some of his ink on paper works where the simplicity of the Madhubani line is used to portray nude figures. These figures overlap and form layered narratives, which could be erotic or sensual as per the artist’s directive, yet, the forms recognizable as Madhubani, seem liberated and free. This artistic license taken has not met with complete acceptance among the traditional Madhubani painters and he reveals that it is quite a divergent step taken in a different direction. While this does not hamper his visual language as a Madhubani painter, it liberates the artist in him to experiment on possible synergetic visual amalgamations.
It was not easy for Avinash to develop his personal style, and to stick to it in his work. He often faced discouragement from the community. He has been coming across some people who don’t accept his style. They don’t consider it Madhubani art and has been criticized on social media.
Avinash is also a part of a collective founded by him, called, ‘Kachni-Bharni’ (line/ filling). The title refers to the techniques used in the art form and this collective takes up projects of painting murals in urban spaces and metros, while travelling to remote areas and villages to conduct workshops for women and children about the art form. While the large murals created in urban spaces like the LOKA Art Foundation, Bihar and the 41ft x 12 ft mural at Bloomrooms (formerly- iLodge) in Gurgaon monetize the group’s ventures, the outreach programs aim to bring a social change and empower the indigenous communities which exist undetected by the radar of the state government. Avinash also conducts Madhubani art workshops for tribals which possibly could get government support to create tourism opportunities to sustain the village economy.
In 2016, Avinash spent a year in Jharkhand’s Chandidih village, working with the local tribes on a community art project. In collaboration with Artreach India, he decorated the walls of houses with murals drawn in the style of Madhubani art in Jharkhand. Some murals depict local festivals, but many highlight the issues faced by the villagers – the lack of water, healthcare and forests.
In one particularly poignant mural, four tribal women walk in a line with earthen pots full of water on their heads. Three of them have brought their children along for the long walk, while the fourth is pregnant – the child in her belly visible to the viewer. Avinash was inspired by an eight-months-pregnant woman he saw walking several kilometers to fetch water for her home. The painting is beautiful, and its message strong – the lack of basic necessities in a village is the hardest on its women. This project was featured in Discovery Channel’s “#IndiaMyWay”series in Dec. 2017.
We live in an age where culture, visual or otherwise invites heated debates and arguments between countries/ continents. We witness certain factions of people debate endlessly to bring back artifacts, totems and relics to the places of origin, which were once stolen or lost by colonial or other ruling forces of some era, as a forceful reclamation/ restoration of their diminishing culture or heritage. And then we see an artist like Avinash Karn who along with his friends and fellow artists, demolish the debate by silently and meaningfully working to reclaim, resurrect and restore a dwindling visual culture from extinction by teaching it generously to those who are willing to carry it forward.
Both methods employed, however different, aim to restore/ repair a rip in the fabric of culture. But as planets are the markers of ambient forces in Einstein’s fabric of the universe, so are the artifacts and relics only markers of a culture of an era. Culture in itself is a permeable, evolving, layered continuum, which seeps in and oozes out, absorbs and exudes seamlessly through time. The only way this fabric could be restored is when one contributes meaningfully to it, by becoming a part of it while being inclusive of all those who support it, like artist Avinash Karn’s does through his works.
The artist is working freelance in his studio in Varanasi. He was awarded with Young Artist Scholarship by Ministry of Culture, India. His works has been exhibited in several galleries and museums and collected worldwide. In April, 2019, he was invited to an International Fumetto Comic Festival in Switzerland where he gave talks, workshops and exhibited with other international contemporary artists. In 2020, His works were shown in India Art Fair, New Delhi and featured in their official press releases.
(This Artist bio is an extract of various article published in several magazines and online portals.)