Artist Statement
“In-Within”, which is a reflection of time and space, proposes to showcase some of the Artist’s spontaneous works airing absolute independence, free from any sort of pre-notions and predictions. These artworks are the epitome of the Artist’s “journey”, that once was in the distant past, and the now, that is, “time”; to which the Artist is a mere distant observer and to that he calls “space”. Ergo, “In-Within”, is an odyssey in time through space. These artworks are beyond the notion of the intellect and subjectivities.
After graduating from the Government College of Art, Chandigarh in the year 1989, the Artist moved to Delhi where his initial expedition started in serigraphs and intaglio process entailing abstractness. Thereafter, he expressed and professed his incessant love for realism paintings, in addition to the bold impasto technique.
With the present series, “In-Within”, which entails impasto works using acrylic on canvas, the Artist yet again discovers within the self a shift towards the basics, that which is, “unknown”, where the journey of the Artist can be seen to oscillate in all directions, which he has touched upon and/or experienced, knowingly and unknowingly.
The present series illustrates the change which is driven towards objectiveness wherein the works are not just overlapping layers but also overlapping of the souls one after the other, depicting far beyond bygone memories of the body and the mind representing liberation; unlike subjective expression, which is a projection of the self or the fantasies or the emotions.
“In-Within”, is a search beyond thoughts, showcasing an unknown odyssey wherein the medium is not only in the canvas but also the Artist himself. It is an expression of instant transformation and teleportation of energies from the soul to the body and then to the canvas, and what then is witnessed is the purest form of exploration, with utter stillness, silence and clarity. The Artist states that this project is a depiction of a long process. It is a state of trance dance, where the life is to be celebrated rather than finding meaning in the meaningless and where communication strengthens as one comes home; where the doors of perception are cleansed; where the search has ceased and all that now remains is playfulness and dance; and dance to its fullest, and this melodic pattern further creates a sense of euphoria. The Artist finds himself engulfed in this process of amalgamation of time and space. It is an experience where everything is interconnected, which gives a sense of cosmic unity, and yet distant.
This journey, canvassed by the Artist through his works, which is unknown to the Artist himself, entails an element of constant mysterious wisdom, of unknowingness, of shunyā, and is a glimpse of what the Artist wishes to contribute.
