Sunday, January 17, 2021

Eclectic and Impatient: Shyam Aramban’s Art

 

 


(Artist Shyam Aramban)

He is eclectic, so is his art. He could play string instruments and if need be tap a bit on the metal plates to bring out rhythm and music. He could also draw and paint, and when he doesn’t do either he is a trigger happy photographer. Wanderlust has struck him badly and he seems to have trusted his feet than his bottom. And he does use it and its result is evident in his solo exhibition at the Lalitha Kala Academy Gallery, Kalady. I have forgotten to mention his name; here is he is, Shyam Aramban, a BFA in Painting from the Kalady University and MFA from the illustrious Banaras Hindu University.

 




(Works by Shyam Aramban)

Shyam Aramban’s eclecticism shows in most of his paintings for he flitters between styles and formats as if he is natural in this kind of oscillation. But the strain that he tries to bring in through the lines and brush strokes more or less remains the same as his forte lies in depicting in everyday life activities of human beings, at times in a stylized realistic fashion and at other times in absolutely symbolic manner. Exaggeration of human figures and the stylistic variants that he chooses to delve in show the journeys that he has taken. Even if it is not said in his biodata, a sharp eye could discern, from the themes and styles, the lands that he has passed through and passed by, inspired and influenced at each juncture of confrontation.

 




(Works by Shyam Aramban)


Surprise is the element that he maintains in his artistic demeanour; he could be excited by the moments that he feels and witnesses. When he is in Varanasi he breaths in all what is in offering in terms of visuals. Kashi is the popular name that Varanasi or Banaras has among the pilgrims. And Shyam underlines his approach to the place as a pilgrim, someone who seeks deliverance but doesn’t think that he would live there for long though contrary to the belief may happen, and soaks the scenes and reproduces them in multiple tiers on the single pictorial surface using stylized lines. Of late his works have taken more linear fashion like a graphic illustrator and through these lines his captures the life and times of the places that he visits. Varanasi and Shantiniketan, two places that he is enamoured by find expression in that fashion in his works. One could discern the places through the dominant presence of iconic images; like Santal Family sculpture or Rabindranath Tagore, or Shiv ling and ghats.

 



(Works by Shyam Aramban)


When in Rome behave like a Roman is the motto that Shyam follows, it seems. He paints what he sees when he is in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. With its die hard classical etiquette and Nawabi culture, Lucknow stands tall despite the political perversity rules the state. Shyam does not think much about the political matters but making the landscape replete with Muslim culture and architecture, he seems to say something allegorically; faith in humanity and cohabiting with different religious faiths. He revels in his graphic verve and it is starkly different from the early works where Shyam seems to be strongly influenced initially by the works of Tyeb Mehta and a little by Manjit Bawa. At some point Shyam is greatly moved by the lines of Jogen Chowdhury. But these influences do not stop him from being fast and furious in making his art with some kind of freshness. As I mentioned before, his eclecticism is in bathing in different streams at once unapologetically.

 






(Works by Shyam Aramban)


However, a crucial question remains; how long an artist could flitter between different styles? Even if the wandering is for finding a path before undertaking a long journey, or it is a reveling in an unchartered landscape, for an artist settling in some path or style is important despite the variations in mediums and themes. One could sing the same raga in many voices and also sing many ragas in one voice. Identity is connected to the latter; finding one’s voice is important for a singer; finding one’s own stylistic approach to the creation of visuals is important for the artist. That is the virtual footprint of an artist; it is a genetic continuity that remains invisible but palpable from one work to another. Shyam Aramban may be thinking about it sooner than later.

 




(Works by Shyam Aramban)

One good thing about Shyam Aramban’s art is that he is not burdened by the typical imageries usually seen dominating the young Malayali artists. Also he is free from the photorealistic bragging of painterly skills. Not that Shyam has skills but he uses it for a different purpose. Spontaneity and impatience are something that rule Shyam’s works for the time being. The anxieties of his age, his sexual fantasies and contemplations peep out even if he does not want to make them so obvious, in some of his works. The latest works are iconic forms generated from his life in Banaras. But he has cleverly turned them into icons of a lost faith in which the natural elements were worshipped in anthropomorphic forms. It is immaterial whether he settles down in his life or not but it is imperative for an artist to settle in his expressions; even Basquiat, despite his absolutely anarchic life, had a visual language of his own, or least that could tell the world that it was Basquiat’s.

 

-JohnyML

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