NEW DELHI // Nek Chand, an Indian artist who toiled in secret for nearly two decades to create a sculpture garden that later became a top tourist attraction, died on Friday at the age of 90.
“He passed away a little after midnight,” Chand’s son Anuj Saini said. “He had been in hospital for the past few days due to ill health.”
The artist died in hospital in the northern city of Chandigarh after suffering a heart attack, his son added.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi led the tributes, saying that Chand would “always be remembered for his artistic genius and fabulous creation”.
The artist’s works are on display in museums around the world, but he is best known for creating the Chandigarh Rock Garden – a 25-acre garden filled with sculptures made from the rubble of the city’s construction.
Chand, who had no formal education and worked as a road inspector in the new city, cleared a small patch in the forest behind Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake and started creating charming statues and figurines using everything from discarded rubber tires to colorful glass bangles.
"I started building this garden as a hobby" in the 1950s, he said in a rare interview in December.
“I had many ideas, I was thinking all the time ... I saw beauty and art in what people said was junk.”
The garden remained a personal project for several years until it was discovered by city officials, who threatened to dismantle Chand’s work. But the secret gardener found many local supporters and in 1976 the Rock Garden was formally inaugurated and began to welcome thousands of visitors a day.
As Chand’s acclaim became more widespread, he was able to hire workers, while hundreds of volunteers came from across the world to work at the garden.
And as the project grew and evolved, Chand experimented with new materials and styles: soothing waterfalls washed over sculptures made of broken ceramic tiles, while colourful rows of glass bangle figurines contrasted with mud and cement animals.
Chand continued to create new displays at the garden until the very end. His more recent additions included the sculptures made of cement, mud and metal wires.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
