A bubble house

Hyderabad: He is “not too ambitious”;  however, Venkat Bothsa’s art is everywhere. From the Shilparamam crafts museum and Nehru Tribal Museum in Masab Tank, to a star hotel in the city, Bothsa’s work literally surrounds us but not many are aware of it. In fact, his 12-feet mural in the banquet hall of a city hotel was purchased through a Delhi gallery and not from the artist, who lives in the neighbouring Vizag and visits the city frequently.

His latest visit to the city this week was on a friend’s invitation in connection with a very interesting project near Nagarjunasagar.  

“I am working on a huge sculpture for a friend on the banks of Krishna river. The sculpture is an organic (not geometrical) form. It will be a cluster of blobs and people can live in it,” says the 53-year-old.

Bothsa is working on this for friend and city businessman Arjun Valluri. It is “a farmhouse of sorts” on a private property.
The artist has had experience with creating homes in art. An  example is his work at the Kalagramam village on the outskirts of Vizag.

The artist, however, has never had a show in Hyderabad. He has hosted many shows in Bengaluru and Delhi.

The artist admits, “I cannot sell art. I can only create it. So I don’t even bother with the prices of the galleries.”

But his evolved expression has grabbed eyeballs across the world and representatives of Sotheby’s have visited Vizag to collect his work for auctions.

But Bothsa has only recently begun exploring on his own. Till 2005, he worked on projects commissioned by the government, making installations for parks. A Fine Arts PG degree from Banaras University helped in getting these projects.

“When I completed PG in Fine Arts in 1983, art wasn’t a paying profession,” he says. “But in 2005, I stopped everything and started focusing on creating my own body of work. I toured all the fairs across the world, like those in Dubai and Beijing. I saw contemporary expressions; the frankness and transparency in art.”

Bothsa now focuses on environmental issues. He questions the extent to which humans interfere with nature. But all works are open to interpretation. “I don’t give statements with my work. I try to project my thoughts through art,” he says.