http://www.aaa.org.hk/Diaaalogue/Details/780

AAA: Not long ago, your name was primarily associated with a particular kind of abstract painting. When and how did you decide to broaden your scope of practice to include multi-media interactive installation work? What are some of the challenges you face with the new medium?

Bose Krishnamachari (BK): I hate categorization! Yes, of course, categorization is an art historical tool that can help to understand the oeuvre of an artist. In that sense my post-J. J. School and post-Goldsmiths works, up until the early years of this decade, was predominantly abstract and conceptual in style. But there is a phase in my formative years in Kerala and in Mumbai in which I used to do highly figurative (life painting) works. I was interested in portraiture and developed my skills doing a lot of portrait painting, which I still make use of in my work.

Abstract style or abstraction in my art is more theoretical and philosophical than a visual technique. I remember Mondrian once said that by over drawing on a line one can stretch a line to infinity, so my abstractions are the extension of a line, a stroke and a thought process. Development of this idea into the notion of artistic freedom resulted in the making of the 'Stretched Bodies' series, which is currently known as one of my hallmark styles. Each time I approach a canvas with an intention to make a stretched body I am actually extending the possibilities of artistic freedom and the freedom of artistic skills.

I have always been interested in design and construction. In my childhood I saw my father creating designs for interiors and architecture. I used to help him in his work and it gave me a sense of, and hands on experience in, design. When I travelled to Europe and the US during my education in London I looked at this aspect of design in post-modern and contemporary art. Form and design is the stuff that gives internal strength to a work of art. Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and the like realized this reality of design in their work and, when we get to the post-'70s conceptual art, design (the Memphis group and Ettore Sotssass) becomes very important.