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LITERATURE:
“[The Muses] are all of one mind, their
hearts are set upon song and their spirit is free from care. He is happy
whom the Muses love. For though a man has sorrow and grief in his soul,
yet when the servant of the Muses sings, at once he forgets his dark
thoughts and remembers not his troubles. Such is the holy gift of the
Muses to men.”
Hesiod, Greek poet
Spontaneity has probably been the hallmark
of his work thus far, but with his new series of paintings Raghava KK
embarks on a new path. Doing a complete turnaround, some of his latest
paintings are totally preconceived and planned to detail, employing a
new visual vocabulary where he has invoked the muses and made them
central to his work.
Referencing the muse from antiquity, the painting ‘Aeode’ is an intimate
take on Raghava’s own muse, Netra Srikanth. True to her passion for
music she is depicted holding an instrument, the viola. Aeode, the muse
of song makes the appropriate association with one who has brought a
song to his heart and music into his life.
Here, the intimacy of the subject is
explicit in the use of photorealist technique with proximal viewpoint on
a large canvas as she directly returns the spectator’s gaze. John Berger
in his acclaimed ‘Ways of Seeing’ (1972) expressed the idea that the
realistic, ‘highly tactile’ depiction of things, especially in instances
where they were portrayed as ‘within touching distance’, represented a
desire to possess the things depicted. This also applied to women
depicted in this way. The idea of the gaze may be read from both the
social and the formal contexts. The intensity of the subject’s gaze
implies a relationship of passion and parity with the artist. The
boldness of crimson-orange tone in the composition further adds to the
power of the direct gaze of the protagonist, who looks at the spectator,
demanding our gaze and signifying a psychological relationship of power
in the confrontational directness. The entwining leaves that are merely
outlined in some instances add a touch of green to an otherwise red and
black composition and may be interpreted as symbolic of youth and
freshness. The association with laurel leaves possibly makes a link with
Apollo, the Greek god of fine arts and culture in whose company the
muses danced.
The Muses series also
includes ‘Mneme’, the muse of memory whose youthful demeanor advocates
the joys of childhood, of literally holding on to the memories of our
earlier days. The composition may possibly be equated to an archive of
memories with its background appearing layered in representation, as
dark, murky and complex.
‘Clio’ is the muse of
historical and heroic poetry whose averted glance in Raghava’s painting
is suggestive of an allusion to things past. Her downcast gaze is away
from the viewer demonstrating her detachment with the present. And yet,
the brilliant red tones on her face invite the viewer’s gaze to linger a
little longer and examine the lips that will soon part to speak of the
lyrical past.
This series of paintings has also seen the
incorporation of a newer medium for the artist, acrylics. Raghava, who
having envisaged the acrylic media as possessing a static quality had
until now felt more comfortable with watercolors. It is through
experimentation with acrylic paints that an understanding of its
adaptability emerged, thus opening up newer possibilities in his art.
The act of creation has probably never
been so much fun and experimentation. In these works he has painted,
photographed, sketched and used the computer as a compositional tool.
However, the use of the computer to generate his ideas ironically led to
a reversion to the hand-made, for the computer generated prints lacked
the depth and luminance that his original ideas had been imbued with.
Raghava’s temperamental nature impedes his
ability to rework his original image to suit larger frames and, thus
necessitated the artist
explored the idea of billboard art that was once a common feature of an
Indian city skyline.
In a radically different gesture he
chose to recreate his creative ideas on a grander scale by collaborating
with billboard painters who became in essence, executors of the artist’s
original image. While they worked on the different layers that went into
the making of each composition, it was Raghava’s touch that finally
completed each reworked painting. He was essentially using
a different approach to the same end, the creation of art.
Utilizing the billboard artist’s
skills of reproduction in combination with Raghava’s creative energies,
begs the imminent question of authorship. The painting has been
preconceived in the artist’s mind and translated into visual
representation. The image thus objectified has then been subject to the
analytical gaze of billboard artists and subsequently recreated. It is
only then subjected to the spectator’s gaze, when hanging on a gallery
wall.
This, in
Raghava’s mind, is the culmination of a particular journey where he has
achieved what he wanted, created the visions of his mind through a
collaboration that in reality allowed very little room for
interpretation by the billboard artists.
In
another intriguing series of paintings, based on Raghava’s sojourn in
Italy, female nudes wearing masks are juxtaposed with caricatures of
mocking faces in stark black and white. The paintings are created almost
as a collage of photorealist painting and cartoons. Working within a
carefully orchestrated scenario, using models and experimental lighting
the artist has worked on a theme that fascinated him, intent upon
capturing its drama. His passionate involvement is obvious in the
compelling textures, deep hues and details implicit in each canvas.
Masquerade, disguise and identity are thus embedded into the text of the
painting teasing the viewer to read meaning into it. Wearing a mask
functions concurrently as both mimesis and disguise, and Venetian
carnival masks have a long history of protecting their wearer’s identity
by promoting anonymity during promiscuous or self-indulgent pursuits.
Lighting further sets the mood of mystery and attenuates the ambiguity.
The caricatures that emerge from the darkness, like shadows from the
past, are from sketches that Raghava had created earlier as art director
for the play ‘Raisins not Virgins’ produced at Harvard University. Their
incorporation in these paintings seemingly presumes a Janus-like
character, equally adept at caricatures and photorealism. The layering
of the contrasting styles further heightens the mysterious disposition.
The visual complexity is appealing as it plays on the intellect goading
the viewer into making meaning from the representation. As a young man
with varied creative pursuits could this be read as the artist’s own
search for his identity, his quest for meaning in his relationships?
Here,
unlike in the Muses series, the eroticized bodies are made distant
through the deployment of masks and, the intimacy evident in the Muses
series is missing. Moreover the rather dark and melancholic mood in some
of these paintings may be put down to a period of intense introspection
by the artist after bereavement in the family.
Paintings such as ‘Expose’ take a lighthearted jab at the artist-art
collector relationship. Raghava parodies the capricious art market where
the artist is caricatured as being shackled to the art collector who
eventually determines the value of his work. The collector in effect
determines the artist’s worth and it is ironical that the image of
Mahatma Gandhi should figure in this currency game. The artist is
represented as looking within and the gaze turns inwards.
Other
works demonstrate Raghava’s continued exploration of the gestural
expressionist painting technique where spontaneity is retained with
paint being dribbled on the surface of the canvas thus creating new
spatial relationships. In spite of the strength of his illustrative line
as seen in his caricatures, Raghava also mesmerizes with paintings that
are purely fluid color, which while being totally bereft of line retain
the figurative element. His ability to change technique and adapt his
style to explore new ground seems insatiable. As long as the curiosity
remains and the sense of wonder persists there will always be dynamism
in his creation. The sizable dimensions of his canvases reflect his
personality, with his global interactions inevitably emerging in his
art.
Every
human form that Raghava paints augments his growing repertoire of
figuration. His works grow from strength to strength, clearly mindful of
the muses that people his way. And as Hesiod says, ‘He is happy whom the
Muses love’.
Swapna Sathish
Swapna Sathish is an art historian and a
freelance art critic. She is a lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts,
Stella Maris College, Chennai. Further to a research degree in Art
History from Milton Keynes, UK, she is currently pursuing a PhD at the
University of Madras, Chennai. |
