Spirit of a Century

During five decades, I have presented countless exhibitions at the Kumar Gallery. Now, on this occasion of the inauguration of a grand new gallery space, due to the indefatigable zeal of my brothers Sunit and Vinit, I have been granted a much broader scope for the selection of work, forging a spectrum of the 20th century that has come to be known as Modern Indian Art. Throughout my ongoing interaction with artists, I have witnessed the same driving spirit as that inherently manifest in the Freedom Struggle in India. For most artists, their spirit is beyond time, fueled by an underlying fire. To my mind, among artists, Sailoz is most vivid, as are Jamini Roy, Kulkarni, RamKinker, Husain, Souza, Satish Gujral, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna, Raza, Santosh, Ramachandran, Jatin Das and Arpana Caur. I seek the key to the inner world of the artist and his/her emotions intellect plays a later role. Creative beings are riot bogged down by ideology and sentiment, in fact, they are charged in their expression. - Virendra Kumar