It will be a one-day unveiling at the Oberoi hotel in New Delhi on August 19 as Nina Pillai, curator (Triveda Fine Arts) and collector, launches a heady artist called Aslam Shaikh. Take the panoramic “Sacred Made Real” work that becomes a spectacle of sorts. Perhaps most representative of this universe, which in four stages illustrate the cycle of the universe and humanity with an unparalleled vivacity. Originally meant to be viewed in its stylistic elements, it prompts curiosity as to what the implications of a unique history signifies. Stretched before your eyes in a symbolic panorama, this work is breathtaking in its ability to transport you to a hidden corner of one part of Kerala, deep inside the wilderness of the mind touched with magic and infinite possibilities.
The viewer is said to be an audience — an observer, who breezes through worlds at his or her own accord, in such a way as to encourage examining the present reality with alternate sensitivity. When brought before “Sacred Made Real,” the context of a ritual seems an expected setting for music and dance and the narrative activity to take place. For centuries, mythology and folklore have marked the forests as a place where gods, goddesses and mystical creatures have said to exist in conjunction to the material world outside. It is equally a place of nourishment and energy in both the scientific characterisation of oxygen and refuge for animals, like the elephants who are revered in Kerala. Additionally, it is a mystical place of tranquillity and spiritual awakening. It is within this landscape that Aslam has interjected graceful women and men and tuskers euphorically dancing to a spiritual tune, guided by the powerful drums and the lamp that is lit. The scarlet and the Prussian blue Kathakali dancers cast a spell of dramatic intensity and flourish. They speak of a cast rich in minor and major divinities, of kings and warriors and sages of yore. The exotic make up, the costumes and the exaggerated motions of eyes and movements become like the prism of time that stands still.
Aslam’s Kudiyattam work brings back the notes of the dance of antiquity. The folk remnant of ancient times — a highly evolved form of Koothu — is historic because it is the only performing art form in Kerala that allows the participation of women. Introduced by the temple culture, this work reflects the mesmeric stance of presentation. The colours and contours become a theme of an extravagant heritage, born of myths and many splendoured tales.
Any performing art form in Kerala is an extravaganza of colour, and most Malayali festivals date back to the times of the rich Dravidian culture — the tradition of bedecking the elephant with gorgeous gold ornamentation and the Devi atop is a sight to behold. Every ritual and art form was created with the resultant magnitude of worship. Aslam brings all of them together along with the drummers who beat the chenda, a special temple drum. Most festivals feature spectacular elephant processions. The tuskers can be seen in their caparisoned resplendence during the festivals of Pooram and Vela. Here are a collection of tuskers, with and without their festoons.
Elements of the temple town of Trichur and other places appear in some works. The most striking rooftop is that of the Vaikom temple, the finest of its kind. In the large panoramic work this immense roof is seen, it has a steep copper roof with three finials. This is where the captivating Kudiyattam and the Koothu are traditionally performed. Aslam gives us in the monochromatic tone a cinematic epoch of an era. He lines a few architectural elements with acoustic aesthetics.
The presence of the Heramba Ganesha — five-headed Ganesha — on the tiger serves to heighten the importance of the central figure: “... the structure of the tiger accentuates the monumental character of the Ganesha which appears with its five tusks... While surrealistic juxtaposition and displacement of associated symbols heightens the power of his pictorial world, Aslam frequently invests the God form with an archaic and timeless feeling. He depicts it as if abstracted from time and renders it, along with the signs and symbols, into an equation who’s other, unknown elements must for all time exist outside the frame of the painting.
In another work of the elephants and the musicians the nature of masculine yet sensual reality is transformed. In the final analysis, man and animal and music is made abstract, viewed as an element within the equation, instrumentation for seeking and establishing identity.
The works of Aslam Shaikh plunge us into the land of the devotees and the art of worship. What unravels is the mosaic of complex and paradoxical society, drawn on between the demands of a forceful tradition and the attractions of modernity that is indeed chaotic. Aslam’s works have thoroughness and a sensibility characteristic of an artist who feels, emotes and invites his viewers to participate in his experiences.