Symbols occupy prime space in artist Vidhan Kumar’s canvases. Urbanisation, politics and power provide the young artist with content for his art which is for everyone to see at the Magnolias in Gurgaon, which is hosting Vidhan’s first solo exhibition. Organised by Sharan Apparao’s Apparao Galleries, the exhibition is titled “The Gurgaon Still Life”. “This is how I can express myself and I choose to do that through my art,” says Vidhan, a pass out from College of Art & Crafts, Patna University.
He comments on the status quo through price rise, painting the imagery of onions including other vegetables and fruits. He accommodates in the same space election symbols, appeal for votes and chair, hinting at power. “Today onions and vegetables have become a symbol of price rise. Various governments have come and gone because of the onions, because they matter to us, especially poor people,” reflects the artist.
In addition to today’s volatile times, another source for his art comes from his harking back to his childhood when he would see his artist grandfather at work. It was in his grandfather’s studio that he first saw an election symbol. “I think the politics in my art can be partly attributed to that. It might have triggered it all,” says Vidhan who is showcasing around 16 works in oil, acrylic and watercolours in this show.
Yet another thing he learnt from his grandfather was the use of stencil which he now uses abundantly in his paintings. For instance in ‘100 per kg’, while Vidhan has painted onions, the text and the election symbols have directly been cut into the canvas. Elsewhere, like in ‘How much it would cost?’ Vidhan creates the stencil effect which provides a nice contrast to the painted imagery next to it.
“My grandfather used it a lot. It is a very, very old technique and I am trying to preserve it by contemporising it. Stencil is just magical, I believe. I think my love for it also has to do with my fondness for printmaking. I do make prints at times. And though I am not using it in this show, I do use real turmeric, real spices and onion skin in my works.”
(The show is on at The Magnolias, DLF Golf Links, DLF 5, Gurgaon, till August 28. Another exhibition brought by Apparao Galleries, “A Quest for Solitude/ The Changing Colours”, a group show featuring five artists, is on at The Lodhi, Lodhi Road, till July 30).