Owais Husain has the most recognizable surname in Indian art — his father, M.F. Husain, is the country’s leading modern painter now living in exile after death threats from religious hardliners.
While Husain senior remains in Qatar, destined never to return to his homeland for fear of protests by Hindu conservatives, his youngest son is keeping the family name alive on the Indian art scene.
The 43-year-old is currently showcasing a diverse body of work in his first solo exhibition in Mumbai for 10 years, attracting plaudits as an artist in his own right.
PHOTO: AFP
“I don’t think he carries that baggage of being his father’s son,” said Dadiba Pundole, director of Mumbai’s Pundole Art Gallery, where M.F. Husain had exhibited many of his works.
“He has a completely different approach to painting, more intense in that sense. A lot of it tends to be autobiographical, which makes it difficult to some degree to get into the work,” Pundole said. “But the element of the narrative is very strong.”
Owais Husain’s Three Worlds exhibition, which opened at the Tao Art Gallery in south Mumbai on Friday, shows that he has been busy since his last solo display in the city — not just in the mediums of painting and drawing.
Also on show are examples of his photography, music, multimedia installations, sculptures and even poetry.
“I’ve always felt that these elements have been like slaves to my painting and drawing,” he said as he put the final touches to the exhibition.
“I just feel I’m a painter who roams from one room to another. I just try to imbibe that atmosphere within me,” Husain said.
In a room in the basement of the gallery, the walls are scrawled with messages. In the center, two beds are covered with balls of red wool, as music — also his own composition — floats through loud speakers.
“This is pretty much what I’m about,” he says, shining a torch around the darkened room.
“I never want people to understand exactly what I’m saying,” he added. “My works are a house. You can enter through a window or through a door ... I want to elicit a response.”
To meet Husain is to understand why he works in so many different mediums. He speaks quickly, fluently and in metaphors, jumping from subject to subject and readily describing himself as a “misfit” who cannot be categorized neatly.
He is currently working on an experimental opera and has just finished shooting an independent film, which will be his directorial debut.
However, the influence of his father can still be detected, as he admits to being “fascinated by the imagery of the [human] figure.”
That got his Muslim father into trouble when he portrayed Hindu goddesses in the nude, provoking protests by religious right-wingers, a mountain of court cases and death threats.
His paintings were vandalized and gallery owners who wanted to display his works were threatened.
The 94-year-old, once described as “the pioneer of post-Independence Indian modern art,” gave up his Indian citizenship earlier this year.
Owais Husain seems reluctant to talk about his father, saying only that he advised him against embarking on a career as a painter.
“He was being protective in his way,” he added, but said that he has been supportive, even though their views on art differ.
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