ABOUT THE ARTIST
An early indian abstractionist who forged his own vocabulary, distinct from the dominant forces that
gripped india’s art community in the early years of independence, piraji sagara came to be known for
his collages made of wood relief amalgamated with abstract paintings.
A sculptor and painter, Sagara was born in Ahmedabad on 2 February 1931, in a family of traditional
wood carvers. He fused modern perception of abstraction with his ancestral knowledge of the material.
With a natural flair for drawing, he completed a master’s in drawing in 1957 and a master’s in arts in
1960 from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay.
Sagara brought together watercolour, pastel, relief work, ornamental scraps, glass bead fragments,
and metal, on his burnt wood sculptures, creating narratives that drew from his cultural heritage. For
Sagara, the materiality of the work was as seminal as the narrative that the sum of the parts constructed.
Inspired by folk culture, he explored the relationship of man with his environment, and the chaos and
contradictions of life.
Sagara taught art at School of
Architecture, C.E.P.T. University,
Ahmedabad, from 1963 until his
retirement. He participated in the
Sao Paulo Biennale of 1971, Asian
art show at Fukuoka Museum of Art,
Tokyo, in 1979-80, and the 12th
International Festival of Painters at
Cagnes-sur-Mer in France, among
other international shows. He received
Lalit Kala Akademi’s national award in
1963. He passed away on 23 January
2014 in Ahmedabad.
