Ishvar Gupta

DVD1983 24 Minutes

Dreamer Indian artist in Britain voices his unusual arts philosophy, making mythical artworks, living from odd jobs.

Ishvar from Bihar in India, a gentle dreamer whose artwork rooted in Indian myths and ancient, ethnic and primitive arts is portrayed in this film, voices his philosophy. Disgusted with commercialism in art - his own aims are very different: to help better understanding between people of different cultures, and spiritual goals of friendship and love, he liked sketching at the British Museum. Although he came to Britain on a British Council Scholarship in 1971 and studied at St. Martin’s School of Art, later at Sir John Cass, he continued to do odd jobs and staying at friends homes, dreaming of own studio; eventually he got deported. Yet, he got commissions, and painted large murals at community places, made textile collages too, and his symbolic clay sculptures are special, documented in film.