“Gandhi was the first ever conceptual artist. Nonviolence, truth, self-awareness are all concepts”

It was a masterclass into the hydra-headed landscape of an incredible mind as Atul Dodiya talked of all the colliding influences that shape his work: the family’s roots in Porbandar that was the source of his abiding interest in Gandhi; letters from his father; his mother’s love for Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and Talat Mahmood; his years in Paris as a student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and the work of painters across a breathtaking spectrum, from Nainsukh to Picasso to Hockney and Mondrian.

“Gandhi dealt with concepts – ideas such as nonviolence and truth and self-awareness – which is the root of my fascination with him. I call him the first ever conceptual artist,” he said. But it was when a member of the audience asked how one could develop a more informed aesthetic that Atul gave us probably his most illuminating advice of the night.

“I am an artist not because I draw well. I am an artist because I see well. A singer isn’t great because he’s got a good voice. It’s because he’s got a great ear.”

Watch the full session above.