por elnox


Nilamani Das copyright: Nilamani Das


Since when do you consider yourself an artist?

I don’t really consider myself as an "artist". This concept seems to me to have a very big significance, but I was always painting. My first teacher was my father, he is an amateur painter, he gave me [lessons] and taught me to paint my first aquarelles when I was a kid, later on I studied art and chose oil as my material.
But to be really an artist seems to me an ideal to chase a special form of living and feeling. An artist is a servant who contributes his vision and his consciousness.

How hard is it to start in the art world in Peru?

This can be sometimes very hard, especially if you are from a, let’s say, lower social class, without money, this is difficult. But I have known artists in Peru who have overcome more difficult problems; sometimes economical ones; sometimes sentimental or political ones.

Do you have a topic that reoccurs in your artworks often?

There are two things which affect me quite often: first of all the nature, as a force or a spirit, as a totally related entity with men, life from which we originate and second, men, this complex being hardly unknown and profound.

Does bhakti yoga somehow influence your art?

Definitely. Bhakty yoga, above all, is a question of common sense and a beautiful philosophy. This inspires me and helps me what to say in art.

Which kind of requirements do you think should a good artist possess?

I think in particular that an artist has to be honest; he has to have the talent of offering consciousness and inspiration.

..Is there any artist or artists who had an influence in you or your work?

Yes. I should say a lot, because there are so many artists and works that inspire me, some of them are anonymous and others are fellows or neighbors of mine.
I wouldn’t like to mention any of them in particular, there are so many famous teachers and there is a beautiful art like the one in the orient that has never been signed.

Do you think that art and religion walk hand in hand or could they exist without each other?

I consider that both of them religion and art belong to that kind of demonstrations that are indispensable in a society beside politics and philosophy. We can try to find an answer to our concerns by trying with one or another but we exist with all of them.
Because of that, in some cases art and religion work together and in others reject each other. The important thing is tolerance.

In my particular case I dream to be full, absolute, universal and I think that this is a more artistic position but could also be religious, anyway I am both.

Do you think that Latin American art is in a general way related to social cultural topics (like Indians, political problems, etc.)

It couldn’t be in another way, the thought in Latin America are focused on this, even though there are different positions and offers like abstraction or conceptualism or the “no arte” which have influenced each other definitely by a generalized social feeling.

In which way in general art is seen in Peru?

In Peru if we want to talk in a general way we are being valiant. For the people in general in Peru (including the Quechua speaking society) it is still something far away from their world. But if we talk about the “part” that usually consumes art or appreciates it, in this case it has definitely new offers and horizons.
There is much more participation and divulgation as if art would get bigger now.

What would you say to those people that just got started in the art world?

You have to be fearless with your work and yourself, to value each work and in each work to give everything.