JOIN US'Playful lines are the real heroes of my work'
As he etches an intricate pattern of lines, drawing from his surroundings, and in turn his personal experiences to give form to some intangible expressions.
From street urchins juggling in public just to earn a piece of bread, their faces beaming with a priceless innocent smile to the farmers committing suicides, migrants and homeless dotting the streets of the cities, and all those who strive for the minimum sanctity of human-ness, become his inspiration, his ‘HEADS’ as Soumen Bhowmick exhibits his body of work in the upcoming exhibition titled ‘Head Tale’ at Triveni Kala Sangam.
In the series that pose an array of sociological questions, the artist says, “I tried to simplify my characters so that the questions appear vividly in my images.”
Tirelessly working on the series since 2010, Soumen created this body of work on paper after the completion of his first solo exhibition ‘Circus of The Absurd’.
Elaborating upon ‘Head Tale’, he says, “Here, I like to face the world of reality with human heads only. The works are semi-realistic with emphasis on lines or drawing. The head is the real mirror or the primary reflector of our emotions. We can tell our entire story through the various elements present within the surface of our head,” reveals the artist who uses ‘heads’ as his only motif to depict multiple expressions in this series.
What may come across as simple, mentions the artist, is intricate in approach as he explains his technique, saying, “For instance, the handling of the image ‘Boozy Head’ is one of the example of pen handling. The lines were simple and sometimes I used cross hatching to intensify some areas according to the need of the image. The playful lines are the real heroes of my work.”
Narrating uncommon stories through common faces or heads, the artist emphasises that as you look through these images---raw in appearance and bold to the core, painted to hide something mysterious– the material becomes least important as the hidden cause takes over.