Exploring the eternal synergy

Art exhibition

An exhibition of Tapestries in silk called ‘Painted Weaves’ by S G Vasudev will be displayed till March 6, from 10.30 am to 6 pm, at Gallery Sumukha, Wilson Garden.

S G Vasudev was inspired by tapestries of works by Picasso, Braque and other artists that he saw during visits to Europe.

His desire to render his own paintings and drawings in the medium of tapestry and his meeting with master weaver Subbarayalu in 1995 led to a collaborative venture that drew on each other’s artistic mastery and ingenuity to create fresh, original works of art.

The present exhibition of tapestries in silk presents images from several of his series of paintings, such as ‘Tree of Life’, ‘Maithuna’, ‘Humanscape’, ‘Earthscapes’ and ‘Theatre of Life’.

Through this medium, the artist explores the eternal synergy between art and craft, tradition and contemporaneity, man and nature, and fantasy and reality.

Vasudev’s awareness of and respect for indigenous crafts and textiles served as an impetus for revisiting traditional practices with contemporary consciousness and overcoming the inevitable challenges of such a long-term collaborative experiment — spanning two decades.

Vasudev works in various mediums (drawings, paintings, reliefs in copper and tapestries in silk). He became well-known for his ‘Vriksha’ (Tree of Life) series, which evolved over nearly a decade, turning into the ‘Tree of Life’ and ‘Death’ in the latter half of the 1980s. He also explored the theme of ‘Maithuna’ (Act of Love) through a series of drawings, paintings and copper reliefs. Eventually, his tree grew into faces titled ‘Humanscapes’ and ‘Earthscapes’. The tree is still sometimes visible in the series titled ‘Theatre of Life’ and ‘Rhapsody’.