Aesthetic curves
Untitled work by Mukesh Singh
Three recent solo shows by young artists have explored the space available to contemporary artists in dealing with and delineating the human body. Upto the 19th century, the human body was considered to be either the image of God or rendered by the divine itself; therefore artists sought to render it as realistically and tastefully as possible.
In fact, the reputation of an artist hinged on his or her ability at painting portraits, or nudes or narrative scenes of human activity with accuracy in an aesthetically pleasing way.
Mukesh Singh comes nearest to this classical model of artistic rendering, through his study of the female nude. His female forms are sensuous, curvaceous, young, and supple and for most part accurate. They are posed in various ‘provocative’ ways made popular by fashion photography, stretched out, legs in the air and yogic postures generously allowing the viewer to gaze upon the body with pleasure. On this nude forms he has superimposed a number of designs such as floral, paisley and feathers seen in henna tattoos and textiles. Mukesh has attempted to provide the nude with different attitudes and inner states of being, but this is secondary to the principal objectification of the female nude.
On the other hand, Paribartana Mohanty at Vadehra Art Gallery has also dabbled in portraiture; however for him the body is not as important as the composition, rendering and treatment sometimes using transmogrification. He has inverted accepted categories and identities, in works such as Butcher’s Pet in which he has shown a man wearing a skull cap holding a piglet in his arms, or a bird hunter with a flamingo or a monk with an elephant’s trunk for a nose coming out of a lined face. The structure of the painting relies on the play of light and shade.
Distortion, contortion, mutilation of forms are seen Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s figures, be it portraits, nudes, or visages. The human figure for Aditya is a medium to express issues relating to angst, alienation and exploitation, both individual and collective.
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