The role of art is to create a world where geographical boundaries melt and reality transforms into fantasy, believe the artists who have worked for larger-than-life paintings for the exhibition More than Human. By Saritha Saraswathy Balan
The works at More Than Human talk about life, race, feminism, mythology and even fantasy which the artists believe are greater than life. There are biographical representations and political statements in the works that they assert through their sketches.
Curated by Georgina Maddox, the exhibition reconfirms the role of art in this “selfie age” as a doorway that enables the viewers to escape into a world of fantasy, one that moves beyond the mundane and that can stretch beyond human capacity. And hence we realise why the show, progressing at Art Explore, Hauz Khas, has been named More Than Human.
Artist Gogi Saroj Pal has created portraits of women that fill the entire composition space, giving a new meaning to the term “close-up.” A gold-leaf backdrop adds to the opulent nature of her works. The faces of her women bear a haughty expression. In another work, Saroj Pal has created a delicate portrait of a fair-skinned girl in an ornate gold-leaf backdrop.
Kanchan Chander’s series on Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is a tribute and wish fulfilment. The works are collages that portray several women in a single woman. They are living images of Chander’s desire to be united with Kahlo who, despite being bed-ridden for several years, fought with adversities. “Chander has inserted photographic images of herself alongside offset prints of Kahlo’s iconic works,” says Maddox.
Titled Journey in a Strange land, Ritu Kamath’s series talks about a flight into an unknown world. Sketched on small canvas, her works reflect the desire to break away from shackles.
The works of Shampa Sircar Das create a dreamy artistic world where the four elements, earth, water, fire and wind, are in harmony with mankind. The series is painted red, the colour of fire (Agni), an element that purifies everything and gives birth anew. The curator says that it contains eternal and perishable elements as if the artist celebrated the guardians of the universe. It seems like the birds and the forest are floating in harmony with the day dreaming protagonist.
Multi-disciplinary artist Satadru Sovan’s works are in a world of fantasy. “His works specifically look at South Asian narratives and address issues of cultural dislocation and the alteration that occur in the rendering, translation of time and space,” says the curator. His works look at the contemporary transmission of visual culture, and the experiences of gender.
Anjum Khan’s Head 1 is part of a series where she has portrayed the urban Indian woman, who is young and fashionable, but someone who struggles at the same time to break the stigma attached to the middle class. “The works are autobiographical expressions. I have fought to move from my small home town lakhimpur to Delhi. To be an artist was even more difficult. In my society people ask what you would eat when you become an artist,” Anjum notes.
Conquering Gold, the series of Pallav Chander, is laced with the ironies in life. “In his works, the lead character is fragmented and bears an agonised look despite being immersed and surrounded by gold. The artist’s relation with the world is quite different. His works conquer the feeling to own things. He is creating freedom by abstaining from expectations of society such as making money or buying gold,” says Maddox. He loves theatre and his paintings bear a theatrical feel where he treats the canvas as a stage.
Young artist Pramod Kumar has portrayed anonymous people who capture their metaphysical and inner energy through a series of surreal portraits. The works of Amith Das have an air of intrigue and selectivity about them. His work, Mystery Behind the Smile, captures the tragic-comic aspect of clowns, Amith lends a sinister feel as he depicts jester. “With a garish smile and glazed eyes, the character seems to be stepping through the twilight of a lonely city in a daze,” says the curator.
Hailing from Manipur, Venus Thokchom has signed on his paintings in Manipuri. “It is an act to revive my home land’s script. It was almost lost and now we are trying to revive it,” he says. Thokchom has portrayed six northeastern women in which each one is different from the other. With this, he changes the old cliché that all “Chinks look alike.” The work is a strong comment on race and ethnicity and the struggle to maintain one’s roots in an age of globalisation.
Hifzul Sheik Kabeer has created mythical characters that surrounded him in his childhood days in Uttarakhand, a place known for its rich heritage of folk art and Gond paintings. His work on an opulent canvas is modern-contemporary. Maddox says, “In this work he has created a Napoleon-like figure that doubles up as a self-portrait into a mystical, historical character.”
The exhibition will conclude on November 5.