Akbar Padamsee is a painter who is a member of the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists, who sought intellectual freedom and cosmopolitan finesse in Paris and London during the 1950's and '60s. He is seen in contemporary Indian art circles as a formal and even conservative painter, who consistently developed his images within the genre of portraiture and landscape, as inflected through the grammar of high modernism. Over 1269-70, when he held the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fellowship, the artist chose to experiment with film, in 1982, he began to work with Chinese ink and brush techniques, passing on to metal sculpture over the next two years. In 1989, he recorded another departure by inaugurating a long series of drawings in charcoal and linseed oil. Alongside his painting, he has kept up a constant dialogue with print-makering. In August 1989, he explored computer graphics. Through all of this experimentation, he remains synonymous with the heads in an inconspicuous, but firm presence on the Indian art scene. His extensive knowledge of aesthetics and a wide range of interests subtly find their way into his images.

JB: What do you consider the highpoints of your journey as a painter and how did it begin?
AP: I started drawing as a child. I didn't know much about art those days, as I came from a business family. I drew from images in magazines, photographs. When I was in the 4th standard, I used to watch my drawing teacher during the recess. Soon he started teaching me how to work in watercolours. Once he invited me to come along to a trip to Khandala, and that's when it all started. He suggested I join the JJ School of art. However, my elder brother wanted me to get a graduate degree. It was unusual for a boy from a business family to study painting. I joined (liberal) arts for one year, but couldn't bear it, so I left. Those days, most people who joined the school of art were either physically challenged or dull and people often asked my brother if anything was wrong with me! My teacher encouraged me to give exams in drawing and painting privately. After this, I joined the JJ School of art directly in the 3rd year curriculum. I also spent one year in the sculpture section. I scoured the college library, studying Chinese, Japanese and Egyptian painting. At the school of art, I met Raza, who was leaving for Paris and he asked me to come along. I thought it was a good idea as it would be an opportunity to see original art. When my professor, Mr. Palsekar, (who later became the dean) heard about it, he said I should travel in India first - see more of Indian art. My Paris trip was 3 months away and during that time, I traveled around south India, looking at temple sculpture, art and architecture. When Raza and I went to France, we first landed in Marseilles. We took a train to Paris and Ram Kumar, who was already there, came to receive us. I took up a room in a Paris hotel where I lived and worked. One day I chanced upon an announcement for an anonymous exhibition. It was an exhibition where the artists' names would not be revealed. I sent in my painting and won the 3rd prize, which I shared with a senior French artist - Carzou. When I went up to Andre Breton, who was the judge and told him I was the painter who had won the prize, he exclaimed "Vous et un enfant!" (You are a child!) I was 21 then. He called Carzou over and introduced him. Carzou who was 41 then, was very surprised and immediately said that he wanted me to have the prize for myself. I spent a lot of time in Paris visiting museums. I also traveled around Italy, visiting Florence, Sienna, and Assisi.

JB: What has compelled you to paint the head and the human form, over and over again for so many years?
AP: I am not interested in portraiture. I paint heads and nudes as themes because I am interested in structure as an abstract quality of figuration. I have painted only one portrait in my life, which is that of Gandhi. When the Shiv Sena was in power, it wanted to remove Gandhi's portraits from all government offices and institutions and I felt that artists had not done their duty. I have also painted mountains, not as landscapes but as metascapes. I didn't paint them from nature, but from concepts. Eyes are the most important part of the head. When humans talk, they use eye language, while animals use nose language. Indian sculptors never put the eyes on the sculpture until it was complete. The eyes were done last and consecrated as divinity.