The concept and the subjects of my works, with the
treatment, talk all about the vocabulary of my works. While the basic concept
is to depict the conflicting characters of human life, the subjects range from
personal sexuality to a broader ground of socio-political problems. On one hand
my works are imaginary, dramatic and distinctive; on the other hand they are
strongly Surrealist in character and bear other specific art historical
references. The basic concept of my works depends on my observation of the world,
molded through my imagination. In other words, my works may be called solely
individualistic.
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| Artist : Ramu Das |
Human figures in various actions and gestures are the
main element in my paintings. Often, relating to the subject the figures are
given very specific expressions. Also the figures are rendered to be very
unattractive and grotesque in appearance. Most of the characters (both male and
female) are imperfectly huge and muscular. They have thick lips, large puffy
eyes and often bear peculiar expressions. I avoid the perfect rendering of the
human bodies which automatically creates a distraction from a sexual
provocation. I like to leave it to the beholders to think over it and feel the
absence of the perfect beauty so that their urge for the perfect beauty move their
minds. This is my intention to play with the beholders’ psychology. A supposed
smooth and palpable skin of a nude woman is being replaced by a rough textured
snake-like surface. All these somewhere disturbs the erotic fantasy and
contradicts the viewers’ urge to see the perfect beauty.
While growing as an artist, it is quite natural for
the art works to go through an evolution in terms of both concept and content.
There are lots of pictorial elements that have been added or deducted from my
paintings in the course of changing time. Experiences of moving to different
places have highly inspired me to shape up the body of my works. Nature and
natural elements have been an integral part of my works throughout. Human
figures, mostly grotesque and distorted, are placed within the natural space.
Conch, cowry shells and recently beehives have become major symbolic features
of my works. These are the elements that build up the body of my works and
changes occur through the continous journey of my life. Apart from that there
are many reflections of some of my very personal thoughts that come from my
daily observations. I often come up with a scene, revealing some story about an
individual or a group of people, stating them in an environment. I like to
unveil the story quite dramatically with an expressive rendering of
colour-play, finishing and appearances/expressions of the characters. Apart
from that there are many reflections of some of my very personal thoughts that
come from my daily observations. I often come up with a scene, revealing some
story about an individual or a group of people, stating them in an environment.
I like to unveil the story quite dramatically with an expressive rendering of
colour-play, finishing and appearances/expressions of the characters.
My colour palette is quite strong. I use brilliant
range of colours and juxtapose them to create vibrancy corresponding to the
subjects of my paintings. I always want to create a certain contrast between
contradictory elements and I do it by combining strong colours. My palette
appears very strident and it may often resemble to be quite expressionistic yet
the final rendering surely has reference of the Renaissance paintings. The
smooth finishing, delicacy of the draperies, use of chiaroscuro and subtle
highlights on the human figures are derived from by understanding of the
classical painting, resulting as my own spontaneous interpretation.
I like to work in a way evaded from directness. There
are more than a few layers in my works in terms of subject and concept. My main
intention is to criticize and highlight various nuances of our society. I have
extensively painted subjects like sexual biases, class struggle, and terrorism
etc. I handle these concepts with a very political or sometime with a spiritual
angle. I use various metaphors and symbols to convey my thought while
articulation. The metaphors I use are created with my personal vision and
interpretation from various experiences of life. Dealing with concepts like
‘Man and woman relationship’ I have used various metaphoric elements like
snails, cowry shells and conch symbolizing the female sexuality and elements
like tiger as male. There are references in my work criticizing the male
dominance over females by showing a tiger, sharply gazing towards a woman. Tree
has become a symbol of femininity as its process of creation resembles to the
women’s’ power of giving birth. Side
pillow, another object of the interior has been shown repeatedly as a phallic
symbol. There are a few subjects that I have dealt with a spiritual angle,
using religious symbols (swastika
symbol or a man seated like Buddha) against terrifying objects to generate good
hope and positivity against fear. Apart from this, I have been capturing
changing personality or mood of different people by showing characters with
multiple heads. Dramatic combination of different expressions of joy and dismay
of those multiple faces upon a single body, suggests the journey of that person
throughout different phase of his life. My works are highly metaphoric and
constantly connote a conflict between different aspects of human life.
Contrasts and contradictions between different things like sexuality and gender
biases, war and peace, brutalities of urbanization are symbolically depicted in
my works.
by
Art Blogazine Team
Bombay
Tathi Premchand
