Dail Art Studio
 
Sukhdev S. Dail
 
“His recent work is a celebration of the essence of the human spirit and form; he combines the volcanic elements of Earth, and white sands of Carmel beaches, to create an almost divine harmonic crescendo.” - Whit Taylor
 
 
 
Born in a small village in Punjab. Father, being a physician, wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but Sukhdev had no stomach for blood and sharp objects, so he turned to soft brushes and art. His childhood seemed idyllic, being surrounded by nature where streams were full of fish and fields of tall grass, hiding foxes and other wild life. That’s where his lifelong love of creation and nature was born. Sukhdev graduated from the Delhi College of Art in 1962, under the teaching of the renowned artists Dhanrat Bhagat and Sailoz Mookherjee. He traveled from Kashmir to Kaniakumari in order to soak in the native art of India, and covered the four corners of the world from Tokyo to Paris and from Canada to Chile in order to see the art of the world. He was as fascinated with sculpture as with paintings, and in 1964 made his first larger than life-size piece “The Archer”, which graces the grounds of the Teacher’s College in Phagwara, where he lectured for a period of two years. He left the security of his job and homeland for the adventurous trek to Europe, via Oriental Express and even on foot for the large part of the Persian Desert, when friend’s car ran out of gas. Reaching the center of Europe Sukhdev found a commercial job at a studio and simultaneously studied art at the Royal Academy Palace de Beaux Arts in Brussels. In 1966 after two years under the auspices of the Flemish professor De Vlaminck Sukhdev held his first solo exhibition at the Gallery Romain Louise in Brussels. A job offer from Canada brought him into the studio of Ralph Bakshi to work as an animator, which required speed and knowledge of anatomy. Sukhdev possessed both, plus a superior artistic sense of style, which made it possible for him to be invited by Bill Hanna to the Hollywood studio where he continued to grow to finally become a director of animation. He also directed at other major studios like MGM and Universal. Sukhdev continued working on his own art and participated in many group shows and local museums, as well as having a solo exhibition at the well respected Ankrum Gallery. In 1985 he was invited by Dr. M.S. Randhava, the Art Historian and the President of All India Fine Arts Society, to hold a retrospective exhibition at the Chandigarh Museum. Currently Sukhdev is dedicating all his God given time to sculpture and painting. He finished a monumental piece in his home town, a sixteen foot tall “Spirit of a soldier”, as well as ten feet tall "Lady in blue” in his Carmel Valley garden in California. Traveling every year to India and Europe makes him also stop in his studio in Zagreb for a few prolific months. In Sukhdev’s words “we artists are as individual and different from each other as the snow flakes, and there is no need to imitate anybody, since we all have a wealth of conscious and subconscious experience to pull from”. His most admired artist is Leonardo da Vinci, whom he would never try to emulate, let alone copy, believing that the Force that endowed Leonardo, also made him – thus allowing him to be himself. The creation and the expiration of the far away worlds are brought close on the many canvases and statues of the once little boy, who drew in sand and moulded in clay.