JOIN USThe sublime relation between man and nature during multiple encounters, asking pertinent questions about our relationship with nature and interpreting human and natural forms through etchings, paintings and sculptures is what three artists are exploring in an exhibition titled Parallel Dimensions mounted at the British Council.
If Ananda Moy Banerji’s serigraphs and etchings offer a reflection on the society, Sujata Singh’s paintings try to establish dominant imagery of the human form by placing emphasis on the universal, pictographic, iconic and figurative qualities and Kristine Michael’s work delves into the symbolism of forms drawn from nature, and interpretations of feminine mythologies.
Singh’s colourful depictions of humans, juxtaposed with Indian decorative imagery like lotus flowers, fish and turtles create a common or shared visual lexicon with the viewers and enables them to empathise and make a connection with her work. Influences of Egyptian, Greek, Assyrian, African and Eastern art come across strongly in her works through contours of human faces.
“The human form embodies, represents, encapsulates, describes and expresses stories, emotions and meanings that can be narrowly defined, personal or larger than life. For me the depiction of ‘people’ validates the totemic and emblematic power, and appeal of the human image and the emotional connection which this creates within viewers,” Singh tells Metrolife.
“My paintings seem monolithic and still. They reveal visions, picturisations and narratives of things seen, remembered, imagined or perceived. The stories remain untold and amorphous, conceptualised but not described, detailed or defined,” she adds.
Singhs points out that “colour is an important and integral element in this series of works as is pattern making and stylised divisions of the pictorial space”.
Taking cues from personal and social life, Banerji’s oeuvre has undergone many changes from the point of view of techniques and thematic planes. He has moved away from landscape paintings and has shifted focus on portraying the chaos of urban everyday life in the mid-80s when he moved to Delhi.
“My recent works are concentrated on exploring themes which are in a way, a reflection of my personal and social life and what goes around me. The recurring images in my recent works no matter whether they are constructed to be political, religious, social, or romantic, it is an attempt to explore universal feelings and relations between man and man,” Banerji tells Metrolife.
The exhibition Parallel Dimensions is on at The Gallery, The British Council till
September 30.