Drawings by Venkanna are in abundance and reveal him to be an outstanding
draughtsman. He combines superb technical skills with a powerful imagination to
use the medium of drawing to express himself. Venkanna employs various media -
pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, watercolour, and permanent ink - all with great
vigour and ease.
Knowing him closely over the past fifteen years and seeing him work, often for
several months at a stretch, I can say with some certainty that drawing for
Venkanna is an instinctive activity. As pencil meets paper, the drawing happens
automatically - without any specific intention or premeditation. Despite the
eCortlessness with which the drawings are made or perhaps as a result of it, there
is a technical sophistication in the unbroken line that usually constitutes the
sketches.
While a surprising number of contemporary artists still rely on drawing to visualise
works in other mediums, fewer artists draw for the sake of drawing. For Venkanna
it is an end in itself, even though a small number of drawings
do get translated and form the basis for explorations in other
mediums and formats.
Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain, Venkanna is
not an academic draughtsman. The sheer speed with which
he works, and the baCling volume of his output is enough to
betray any such possibility. Moreover, it is in the ability of his
drawings to unsettle rather than explain, to obfuscate the space
between intention. and interpretation, that their significance lies.
- Abhay Maskara
