What's perhaps ingenious about creativity is that you don't have to be answerable to anyone. In a modernist purview of the theme of art, where the art is for art's sake — the intrinsic value of the art is within itself. Ramakanth's works reaffirm the ‘Art' that stems from a certain idea and a principle.
Titled, The choices we made and other works — Ramakanth's new collection of paintings is on display at Muse Art Gallery in the Marriot Hotel. The paintings come with a title and brief synopsis of what the painting symbolises. The 32 paintings on display lean towards a modernist approach and due emphasis has been given to the thought and the idea behind the work than to the technique or method of painting. Mostly, acrylics on canvas, the works bring out the subtle emotions of the human psyche.
It is interesting to note that paintings try to bring out the conflicts of the mind — under various circumstances. In his work ‘Blues', Ramakanth has used Pablo Neruda's ‘Tonight I can write' as a bridging explanation. “Tonight I can write the saddest lines, I loved her and sometimes she love me too,” With streaks of blue and a figure overlooking the window, you can believe that these words were written for the work. In another one of his paintings titled ‘Identity', in a palette dominated by the many shades of brown is a representation of a man lying down and it seeks to question how as a society we judge people on their past, however irrelevant it might be. In his ‘Artistic pursuit', the canvas is envisaged to be running the shades of blue with dominant and eruptive whites and as he explains that the pursuit of art must be beautiful and meaningless. His most evocative works are the vertical 16x36 paintings, titled ‘Not guilty' and ‘The price of being original'. ‘Not guilty' is inspired from the story of a man who has been jailed for no reason — at least he is unaware of the reason. Sitting by the bars of a window to a rather blue (sad) world, the man sits, waiting to seek answers: Ramakanth explains, “Still doesn't know whose law he has broken…”. In ‘The price of being original', the artist has brought out the primary and deep-seated debate about originality and creativity. The work symbolises the artist to be alone behind his creations, hoping for the world to understand.
The thought behind Ramakanth's works delves deep into human emotions and the conflict of the soul with the mind.
The works are on display till May 11 and the proceeds of the sale will go to the Anandapriya foundation.
