Bhola Kumar and his journey to bring stone sculpting back

Inspired by the majesty of Ellora's Kailasha temple, Bhola Kumar, wants to reinstate people's belief in large stone sculptures in India. While driving at Kundi-Manesar Expressway, you would witness a 12 feet high Shankhnaad placed there by the Haryana government. This was created by Bhola Kumar, a sculptor from Greater Noida.  His other Shankhnaad creation is going to be placed at Sahitya Kala Parishad's camp at the Mandi House by the NDMC in the coming months.

His medium is stone and he also delves into ice sculpting. Through his art, Kumar wants to achieve the same excellence as the sculptors behind Ajanta Ellora caves that were carved from a single stone and in the process raise awareness about these great Indian artists.

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Born in a small village Turi in Bihar, no one in his environment could imagine that sculpting could be a profession. Young Kumar was always interested in drawing and painting and always made time for it along with his studies. His parents never saw scope in studying Fine Arts or learning sculpting as they were unsure whether it would yield any benefits. However, clearing the Banaras Hindu University Examination for Sculpting brought hope and they all felt that perhaps sculpting is his destiny.

Kumar also tries to answer deep psychological questions such as the cycling of thinking and expression in work through his sculptures. The sculptures in his series 'Gatibhang' show fluctuations and amalgamation of the time and space that affect human nature. The shapes and forms of sculptures are carved around a mechanical wheel which can be compared to the cycle of life. Smoothness and roughness shape the moment of human life.

His works 'Antardwand' for which he got the National award refers to the battle within. Our thoughts are made up of conflicting thoughts and we after getting trapped in them, lose a sense of right and wrong. He tried to represent this duality in a tangible form in his sculptures. "In this sculpture, an attempt has been made to establish mutual coordination by combining two hemispherical shapes. The outer upper surface of the semi-circle is smoothed, which shows the softness of the mind and the turbulent effect of thoughts through textures," he says. This idol craft is made in Black Marble.

Kumar has participated in many exhibitions held in India and internationally such as Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, Bihar Museum in Patna, and Delhi Art Society. He represented India at the Snow and Ice sculpting Championship in Harbin, China last year where his team created a mesmerizing snow sculpture of Gandhi Ji. He's a recipient of awards two times for the 87th and 91st AIFACS Awards.

He is a faculty lecturer at the District Institute of Education & training, Dankaur, Gautam Buddh Nagar and practises his abstract form of art-making at Lalit Kala Academy alongside. He is now focusing on the Ice or snow sculpting Championship (last held in China) with his team to represent India globally. Lalit also teaches clay modelling to students from classes one to eight. Soon, Lalit is planning to write a book on how to understand art for children.