Of hope and despair
24 Sep 2014 9:53 PM GMT
When an artist says that his works are an extension of who he is, it becomes all the more important to look deeper into the canvas. Artist Narendra Kumar has worked as a teacher of Fine Arts in the faculty of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan for 25 years and a quarter of a decade has given rise to some arresting pieces of work he is exhibiting in the Capital in a show titled Hope and Despair.
The paintings exhibited are an inner reflection, a portrayal of expressions, confined and journeying within the four quadrants of expressions, namely anxieties, fears, hopes and despairs.
These paintings can be considered as extensions of Kumar’s personality. It’s an inner reflection, a portrayal of expressions, confined and journeying within the four quadrants of expressions, namely anxieties, fears, hopes and despairs. However, the very multitude of these expression does not mean to be bypassed within simple glimpses, my paintings as pensive pieces of art try for the audience to elevate, to drown, even for a moment, to extraordinary levels of consciousness, in the utmost honesty and genuineness, something like a momentary lapse of concentration from the daily dose of humdrum, he explains.
‘Though inconclusive, the broader theme of most of these paintings can be seen as an exploration and transition within three categories - the enchantment and agony of hope, helplessness and self-doubt, ambiguousness of one’s thought, belief and action and complete despair hopelessness or death,’ says the artist.      Â
He goes on to explain that hope is nothing but the enormity of our expectations aligned in front of the virgin canvas, the good feeling that this one will be better than the previous one. A feeling that the idea, the concept reflected through this one painting, would eclipse all the previous ones.
‘But amidst the unconformity of the idea there always remains a causal ambiguousness of self-doubt. While at work a thinking crops up about the sense making of the nature of this continuance to paint, harboring another complex dimension of it’s worthiness, questioning the overall significance of pursued artistry.
A question, which alleviates itself from the dimensionality of profession, person and definition towards the very purpose of life. Â
These confusions of subliminal attitudes have been expressed in these paintings, questions like ‘Where are they going? How will she go? Providing an intermittent movement towards an unknown region of to satiate the immediate need for an answer,’ Kumar concludes.
WHERE: Lalit Kala Akademi, Gallery 8
WHEN: On till 27 September, 11am to 7pm
The paintings exhibited are an inner reflection, a portrayal of expressions, confined and journeying within the four quadrants of expressions, namely anxieties, fears, hopes and despairs.
These paintings can be considered as extensions of Kumar’s personality. It’s an inner reflection, a portrayal of expressions, confined and journeying within the four quadrants of expressions, namely anxieties, fears, hopes and despairs. However, the very multitude of these expression does not mean to be bypassed within simple glimpses, my paintings as pensive pieces of art try for the audience to elevate, to drown, even for a moment, to extraordinary levels of consciousness, in the utmost honesty and genuineness, something like a momentary lapse of concentration from the daily dose of humdrum, he explains.
‘Though inconclusive, the broader theme of most of these paintings can be seen as an exploration and transition within three categories - the enchantment and agony of hope, helplessness and self-doubt, ambiguousness of one’s thought, belief and action and complete despair hopelessness or death,’ says the artist.      Â
He goes on to explain that hope is nothing but the enormity of our expectations aligned in front of the virgin canvas, the good feeling that this one will be better than the previous one. A feeling that the idea, the concept reflected through this one painting, would eclipse all the previous ones.
‘But amidst the unconformity of the idea there always remains a causal ambiguousness of self-doubt. While at work a thinking crops up about the sense making of the nature of this continuance to paint, harboring another complex dimension of it’s worthiness, questioning the overall significance of pursued artistry.
A question, which alleviates itself from the dimensionality of profession, person and definition towards the very purpose of life. Â
These confusions of subliminal attitudes have been expressed in these paintings, questions like ‘Where are they going? How will she go? Providing an intermittent movement towards an unknown region of to satiate the immediate need for an answer,’ Kumar concludes.
WHERE: Lalit Kala Akademi, Gallery 8
WHEN: On till 27 September, 11am to 7pm
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