D
uring this period, the forms within Kumar’s paintings become condensed and deconstructed. By the t.mes
Kumar painted this untitled work in 1973, the elements of his landscapes had been reduced to barely recognisable elements juxtaposed in shifting vertical and horizontal planes. The current work straddles the boundaries between abstract and realism, depicting the landscape through layered planes of brown, white, green and blue. The sombre tones still echo the sense of quiet contemplation present in his early canvases, yet their inherent lyricism and calm reveals a profound sense of inner illumination and perhaps a greater confidence in the artistic process itself.
“My work is now guided by a concern with plastic qualities. I am more deeply involved with the form than with content. When one is young and beginning, one's work is dominated by content, by ideas – but as one grows older, one turns to the language of painting itself. I have grown detached – I want to find the same peace as mystics found ...”
R. Kumar, ‘Landscapes of the Mind,’ Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1996, p. 117
