The tremulous shadow of a clothesline on a yellow wall. A rain-speckled, misty window-pane. A grassy field overflowing with rain. Concentric whorls expanding on a blue water body.
A shivering tree looking like a wet, smudged, impressionist painting. Tree trunks turning into thin, spiralling shadows in the mirror of a lake. A stone wall creating a tapestry of texture in a pond. A rain drenched road, bleached of all colour like a dimly lit Arakkal.There is a bit of a painter in photographer Vivek Mathew. Hard edges and clever angles are missing and instead you see images where reality and magic blend to take your breath away.
Nothing is conveyed outright. His photographs are reflective. Almost as if they were fruits of meditation rather than of happenstance.
There is a hint of limpid brushwork which the camera is not likely to have created and only a photographer’s eye for the unusual, the magical could have captured. Vivek agrees, “Photography is all about communication with the world. It is about telling a story to people about a location, about a person’s life, a festival, anything. I try to study a place once I go to location and try to observe details which are subtle. Sometimes some of my pictures happen very subconsciously and some things are never planned at all.’’
Latest exhibition
‘Waterborne,’ his latest exhibition which recently concluded at Industree played with the idea of water as an element of alchemy and how it imbues ordinary objects and commonplace locations with transcendent beauty.
The pictures brought out the many things water can do. It eddies around objects, flows over them, it reflects life when it is static, it is alive when it ripples.
Vivek says, “I shot the images on streets, open fields, tanks and lakes, in and around Bangalore, Srirangpatna, Nilgris and in Thailand.’’
For a young photographer who passed out from The Light & Life Academy, Ooty in only 2004, Vivek has already created a space for his work. Today he photographs architecture, fashion, people, nature and his first solo exhibition ‘I Opener' (in 2005) is still remembered for its promise and clarity of intent. His work has featured in The Times Journal Of Photography, Design Today and he also shot a campaign for the Bangalore Traffic Police.
Vivek has aspirations to emulate Pallon Daruwala, Paul Liebhardt and Jay Maysel and has no misgivings about being in a mercurial field.
He says, “Today, photography is definitely a secure field for the young since there is a lot of work coming in thanks to a lot of global companies setting up shop in India which means everyone wants pictures for their advertising. Things are definitely a lot better than before. My parents were supportive about my decision to be a photographer since they saw my passion for the camera since childhood.’’ And now, its our turn to see just what Vivek Mathew can do with his camera, a whole lot of passion and a bit of inspiration.
