By Tricitynews
Chandigarh 23rd
Feb, 2019:- If ever there were a befitting
example of a man who contradicts himself expertly, it would be Bharat Thakur,
the man behind the brand Artistic Yoga.
Yet, it has never been possible to
contain him to the image of a Yoga guru. Though he has practically changed the
way Yoga is perceived in India and the middle east, with his result oriented
form of Yoga that focuses on fitness and well being, appealing to the youth and
the old alike for its emphasis on science rather than dogma, for its dynamic
and motivational approach, it is still not possible to pin him down to just the
tag of a Yoga guru.
Bharat is multi dimensional, with Art
being as close to his heart as is Yoga and Spirituality. All of this can be
attributed to Bharat’s unique up-bringing. At the age of four, he was taken to
the caves around Gomukh in the higher reaches of the Himalayas by his master,
who belonged to an ancient lineage of adepts.
He lived in an unusual environment,
which was snow bound throughout the year, with almost no vegetation,
practically no contact with civilisation, where you could not take your food or
even sleep for granted. It was at once a survival mode as well as an immersion
in meditation and silence, where the natural elements kept your company and
life was lived around the fire pit or ‘dhuna’ in the caves.
What marked him out, in such a world
was his deep interest and fascination for sketching, which came naturally to
him as a child. With no art school, or art material in the caves, he was
constantly drawing on the ice, using the soil, leaves and so on to create what
can be called installations in retrospect. These were the seeds of the
artist.
Yet his life was on mission mode and
the mission was Yoga. After eleven years in the hills, Bharat pursued his
formal education where he specialised in exercise physiology that culminated in
a Phd. Following this he started his Yoga Company, Bharat Thakur Artistic Yoga
and over a period of two decades, the company grew to become an internationally
renowned brand spread across the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia and
Europe.
Bharat’s art career was on a slow
burn through this period as all his energies went in creating the Yoga
movement. He called his method of Yoga ‘Artistic Yoga’ as art was his way of
life. Art to him combined truth, beauty, spirit and passion. Through all these
years, he kept up the sketching and developed a fair amount of familiarity and
ease with the medium of water colour and charcoal during his years as a student
and while helming the Artistic Yoga movement.
And like art was essential to his
Yoga, soul is essential to his art. His paintings and sculptures are a visual
manifestation of the beauty that springs straight from the soul. His art is
also informed by his study of the human anatomy and physiology during his years
at the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE), Gwalior,
where he did his bachelor’s and master’s in Yoga and Physiology.
From Around 2010, Bharat started
working seriously and formally on his art. He is self taught, learning from the
street artists of Europe and maintaining a prolific schedule of visits to the
museums and galleries of the world, which he could combine with ease as he
travelled heavily on the yoga mission.
From 2016, Bharat started exhibiting
his works in solo and group shows. Bharat straddles the world of abstraction as
well as figurative art with equal ease. What marks him out as a painter is his
ability to channel his unique background and experiences into his works.
Having spent many years with the spiritual adepts in the mountains and being
one of them, he has both knowledge and access of the king that is unprecedented.
Throughout his life, Bharat has been
evolving a unique grammar of art, drawing from his incredible understanding of
both the figurative and abstract genre.
As a multidimensional artist, he
works with a wide variety of mediums for his paintings and sculptures. Bharat
likes to find his own expression and unbound by convention. For him no medium
is too challenging, and no subject is beyond contemplation.
Bharat has studios in Bangalore,
Dubai, Kathmandu and lives in New Delhi.
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