|
| |
|
|
 |
 |
| |
| His Reality is a Little Twisted |
| Priyanka Banarjee |
| |
He is a thorough professional and writes and paints during his free time. But you can't call him an artist by hobby. "Sweat, toil and blood goes in it," says Sanjeev Khandekar, a new age self-taught watercolour painter. He picked up painting to express himself. "As a hobby, an artist has the tendency to make a hotchpotch of his work. I take my work seriously," he asserts.
How does he define his genre? "It is the end of abstractism," he says. But the onlooker might define his work as semi-realistic. The images, mostly human figures, are distorted and ugly to look at. But the artist says it is his imagination. "True we are not like that physically. But if you look within, you realise what 1 have depicted is true."
His paintings do manage to stir you. But the similes and metaphors are not easy on the eyes. Khandekar’s paintings are devoid of landscapes. "Our lives •are devoid of ideologies. We are living in a world we have created ourselves. That was what triggered my creativity," he says. His paintings reflect interpretations of the present world borne out of technologies like genetics and communication. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
 |
The works are not easy to comprehend. Optic fibers, mobile phones, computer chips, gizmos are all part of his compositions and define the hysteria of life. The titles do take you closer to the themes. Bio-music is one such imaginative title. The painting can at best be described as a candid expression of thoughts. A man stands with his private parts open. The artist gives his explanation: "Music started with the mating call."
Another is Death of a Search Engine. "The search engine is like our new God. We can't imagine life without it," he says. His self-portrait catches the onlooker's attention for there stands a nude, pregnant... male! "I am pregnant with ideas,” he says. Then there is Writing on the Walls, which shows two walls. "One has bullet marks while the other shows the bleeding insides of a human being," he explains. Another is of a Nude girl. This says our privacy is always being invaded, we are always being watched by someone.
There is even a painting showing a race of sperms to get into the female egg. "We all are like this," he says. But why use a sperm as simile? "Sperms are the biggest truth of life. They are as significant or insignificant as any other thing in life," says he.
|
Ultimately, his paintings depict the chaos of life. His juxtaposition of flaccid bodies with modern age materials is perhaps what we are living in — not caricatures of the present but an insight into realism. But he could have made the images a little amiable.
Media? Though he only uses brushes, Khandekar manages to absent the flow and transparency of water colours. The result is an acrylic-like effect.
Exhibition on at Triveni Garden Theatre till November 22 |
|
| -The Pioneer, 4th November 2003 |
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
