“Art is never static and it can never be confined to one train of thought” says Ramakanth. Having recently presented his solo exhibition of paintings at Kalakriti Art Gallery titled, The Loneliness of the long distance runner and other works , Ramakanth says, “The way a writer writes his book or the poet writes poetry, an artist uses the canvas as a medium of self-expression.” The title is inspired by Allan Sillitoe's short story. Ramakanth says that the symbolism lies in the idea that running alone, without spectators, is what internally drives you to excel. Among others, Ramakanth lists Somerset Maugham and Pablo Neruda as his inspirations as well.
Ramakanth's works dwell upon an idea, a thought or an inspiration. Each one of his paintings is accompanied by text or words of wisdom, which try to provoke our thinking capacities. An acrylic on canvas, An admirable blur reads, “The swiftly moving world can be only perceived as a blur; colourful, shapeless, un-detailed and admirable.”
Ramakanth explains further that from a distance human relationships look beautiful, happy and loving, it's only when the intricacies come into focus that the truth can actually be perceived.
Ramakanth took the craft from his father, who was a painter. The rest, Ramakanth says, was his vision and intellectual evolution that made him stray away from pursuing realistic art. “I can draw things as real and exact, but where is the thought in that?” he questions. Ramakanth believes in concept driven art, where the idea is to throw light on the concept behind the art as compared to the process driven art, where more focus is given to the tools and techniques used in the process of making the art.
The artist's works exhibit a post modernist leaning, steering away from traditional thought towards artistic nuance and freedom. A painting he says shouldn't be an expensive replacement to wallpaper, but instead it should be a visual representation of knowledge and depths of thought.
Using a minimalist approach, his paintings try to give birth to a bigger vision. The imagery in his words is profound and reflects well through his work. His take on narcissism through Mirrors and Windows, is quite exemplary. It questions our love for ourselves— we would rather look at ourselves than acknowledge the beautiful view outside of the window.
