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Kratu

Born in Italy in 1942, Kratu studied painting and worked on restoration in Milano. In 1964 he moved to Paris and from there his path took him via various European countries and cultures to India, where he settled in 1970 in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry for 17 years. It was here that he changed from painting to clay modeling, and when he joined in Auroville in 1991, his skills had already quite matured.  Presently Kratu's work is mainly in stoneware with different textures and partial glazing, and occasionally he works in earthenware on murals of different size. Kratu has been exhibiting throughout India and was awarded for his work at the All India Ceramic Exhibition at AIFACS, Delhi, 1998. His works are in many private collections in India and abroad.

 

On his life in Auroville

. Auroville gives the opportunity to be in actual touch with all the different resources that humanity has to offer, mixing them and creating a whole which is completely different and considerably larger than our small individuality and small origin. This concoction of so many different nationalities and backgrounds gives the special and unique flavour of this city in the make.. My creation in art gets its impulse from it. I am aware that I am linking myself to the plastic art of the past and the present, to different sources, East and West and other influences, - that is the quality and gift of our time. Moreover, I am aware of what Mother and Sri Aurobindo gave and give to me inwardly, and I feel this is subtly surfacing in my work. Auroville, in its rich variety of things, is unquestionably a most appropriate place for my inspiration to be fulfilled..

Press review

"Kratu's current show is dominated by the theme which has fascinated him most - the concept of mother and child. The mother and child concept, though old as the skies is infinitely fascinating - it concerns the truest love. He has modeled several touching variations on the same subject - the mother with the child cradled against the chest, the child resting peacefully on the mother's shoulder in complete surrender and confidence. However the conventional mother and child theme which is so obvious is not all there is to it. He intends portraying another dimension - the spiritual. He sees an inner awakening of the self in a woman symbolically represented by the child emerging from the mother's heart. Kratu works mostly at figurative sculptures though he does occasionally venture into abstracts, when the concept he wishes to portray demands it. He sometimes moulds abstract backgrounds, but it is the human form that interests him most. Kratu's works do not stun or scream. They evoke a feeling of peace, instead. The graceful lines of the forms he has created arouse a feeling of aesthetic joy and pride in the beauty of the human form..."  

K. Hema, The Economic Times, Bangalore, 26.9.99  

For further information, email aloka@auroville.org.in  
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