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about Prakash
Chandras
Creating an
American Dreamscape
Native of India Finds Harmony in Painting, Sculpting His Own Visions
- Nora Villagran
San Jose Mercury News, 10/31/01
Artist Prakash Chandras is living his American dream. As a youth in his native India, he longed for the freedom and opportunity to do what he wanted in life. But first, the dutiful son followed his father's dream: Chandras earned a master's degree in business administration in the United States. Returning home, he handed his father the diploma and declared, ''Now, I'm going to be an artist.'' At 50, the San Jose painter and sculptor looks upon the fulfillment of his dreams with gratitude. "You can go to England and never become English," he says. "But in the United States, you really can become an American."
In return, Chandras is painting America's cities in a style he calls linearism, depicting architecture, land and sky in parallel lines.
Some of his American Series paintings are on exhibit through the holidays at Willow Glen's Art Made to Match Gallery. The show, "Architectonic" includes work by local artists Kevin Story and Tym Warren, a former art student of
Chandras.
"Prakash uses precise lines with craft and skill," says artist and gallery owner Edward Seichei. "I've never seen anything like it. His use of colors is wonderful."
Chandras who teaches art at at DeAnza College in Cupertino, has shown his work at the Triton Museum, the San Jose Institute of Contempory Art and other local venues.
He says, America's cityscapes embody the spirit of liberty. His work "Central Park," on exhibit at the gallery, holds particular significance.
I finished the painting on the night of September 10," he says. It was a shock when I found out about the terrorism the next morning. I signed my painting that day on the 11th.
The canvas celebrates Manhattan's bold skyscrapers - including the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
"If only the terrorists could appreciate the opportunities in our democracy," he says.
"To be able to make decisions for yourself, rather than have them forced upon you, is the most wonderful thing. If tomorrow I wanted to be an astronomer, I would be free here to study astronomy. In America, nobody tries to stop you from educating yourself."
When you know you have choices - this is the most beautiful thing I love about this country. I tell my daughters: 'Be what you want to be.'"
Chandras and his wife, Karen, coordinator of the disabled students program at San Jose City College, have two daughters: Jessica, 13, and Emalie, 9.
"Jessica likes to write," he says, "Emalie likes the performing arts. This is what girls can do in this country."
Chandras was inspired to come to the United States by Peace Corps volunteers who came to his village of Pune. "I tried my broken English on them, and they really liked that. They asked me to interpret for them, and we became good friends. They planted the seed in me of coming to America."
In 1970, the volunteers loaned him money for his plane ticket to the United States. "I thought life in America would be like a Jerry Lewis movie. It was fun, but also hard work and studying. Americans were so friendly. I'd be in the wrong line, and they would tell me."
Chandras studied business in Illinois. An art teacher suggested he switch to art courses. "I told her 'I can't.' She said, 'Why not?' Her comment reminded me of the freedom in this country."
After earning an MBA, in marketing in New Mexico, he told his father: "If I find out I can't survive as an artist, I can always go back into business - or I can just go into business and be unhappy in my life so you can be happy in your life."
In 1975, Chandras returned to New Mexico, where he did a series of paintings of white flowers in his late mother's memory. In 1977, he moved to New York.
There, he studied at the venerable Art Students League and fell in love with the city. "I was immersed in art and in Manhattan Broadway, Galleries, Soho, The Village. Total immersion in your art is possible in New York.
"Saturdays, I'd ride the subways to he ast destination to paint. Sundays, I'd go to museums and lectures by art historians. It was a fantastic education."
In 1980, Chandras married Karen in a Hindu wedding in India and in a Christian wedding in Indiana. They settled in San Jose, where he earned a master's of fine arts at San Jose State University in 1983.
Their home is adorned with his sheet metal sculptures and his painting of the San Jose skyline. There is also his first linearist painting, which he conceived in a dream during his business school days in New Mexico.
"The dream took me to the art studio of Georgia O'Keefe. She was working on a painting of a mountain, sky and trees made of parallel lines. In the morning, I tried to paint the painting in my dream. O'Keefe never painted in that style, so I figured it was my dream, my images and my style."
His father died in 1978.
"My father didn't get to see my success in art, but he did meet Karen and he loved her. He said, "Marry her as soon as you can.' Because he could see I was happy."
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