Finding rhythm in stone: Sculptor G Reghu returns to Mumbai

Sculptor G Reghu doesn’t like to gives titles to his sculpted stoneware creations. “I like to leave interpretation to the audience,” he says. “When I start working with the clay, it speaks to me. It feels like I play with it and it takes a form.”

About 100 of these forms are currently on display at the Jehangir Art Gallery, in an exhibition titled ‘Stoneware’s rural rhythms’. Some are clearly tribal figures, many are women. “In this country, we still fail to give women due credit. That’s why, my sculptures, portraying rural and tribal India, give woman a prominent place,” Reghu says.

This is, incidentally, his first show in Mumbai in 20 years.

If you want to try and guess at what the artist was thinking, as you make your way through the exhibition, you might want to pay close attention to the heads. His figurines generally have big, prominent heads, relatively thin necks and limbs, and large eyes and ears, symbolising the power of each persona.

“Here is an artiste who as a child grows up in Kerala in the company of noted architect Lawrence ‘Laurie’ Baker and his wife Elizabeth. When you hang around architects, you learn to work with your hands. Reghu has done that,” says Uma Nair, curator of the show.

Incidentally, Reghu’s first show, in 1987, was at Jehangir Art Gallery. The sculptor says he has come a long way since then, his work has gone through many transformations, but the gallery and the city remain special to him. “This the place that gave my dreams wings and I’m really excited to be back here,” he says.