Jana Manuelpillai & Asana Greenstreet Review Ai Weiwei at the RA

Jana Manuelpillai, Director of The Noble Sage, reviews 'Taxi Tehran' (2015), a film by Jafar Panahi

Read about: RE-BIRTH - The Art of K. Benitha Perciyal

RE-BIRTH
The Art of K. Benitha Perciyal

It is hard to believe that eight years have passed since I first met Benitha Perciyal at Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai. She was an immediately impressive artist, able to articulate through her work and through her words her artistic message. This combination is actually rather rare. This exhibition at The Noble Sage charts the changes of Perciyal's work from 2004 to 2008, a seminal period in her career so far. The earliest piece from this first visit to Chennai is 'Nothing Else' (2004). As was often the case back then, her art had a rawness of approach, her self-portraits owning a dark edge and a self-exploitative element. In this work for example, one sees Perciyal use texture to convey the closeness of bone beneath her face's skin. The effect is eerie, as if we are undressing her face with our eyes, yet the portrait shows the artist peaceful.  

As Perciyal has explained in interview, she has always felt neglected. Making herself the subject matter of her work made and continues to make great sense. In her changing work she is constantly revising the meaning of self-portraiture, stretching its boundaries to include exploration of her physiology, her mental state, her personal growth, her soul and spirituality, her role in society and indeed her sense of what it is to be a woman. 

Perciyal has often used (loosely) loaded motifs such as 'the seed' and indeed this is a form that binds this exhibition. In 'Untitled' (2006) a pod of seeds is meticulously created within the central varnished silhouette of Perciyal herself. We see the seeds before we see her perhaps implying that we are literally our years of growth and change. Seeds also divide the portrait in 'Sketchbook Series' III (2006). Here used in a patterned manner, we start to see Perciyal's artistic attention to detail and decoration combined with her stylised and simplified silhouette form. We also see the artist's interest in organic materials and media. Her interest since 2006 has been to work as much as possible with naturally-born media (the colour created from soil, cardamom, saffron, ground leaves etc) on naturally-made materials such as handmade paper or other surfaces and fabrics she has collected on her numerous trips abroad and throughout India. In some ways the material individuality of these substances and materials appear to be the only way that the artist can articulate her own make-up and self. 

The subject of her body, on a molecular level, as a woman in particular, and also indeed physiologically in relation to the psyche, is considered and explored in many of the examples from 2007. In 'Diptych' (2007) Perciyal examines her internal space and relates it to a vessel. The structure of the skeleton is notably erroneous indicating something greater than the mere physicality of our bodies and hinted at in the soulful glow of the contents of the bottle in the counter image. In 'Endless Loop' (2007) her own female reproductive organs are described subtly, again relating imagery in form to seeds but also cells and DNA. The subtly of imagery is astonishingly effective. We cannot help but look inside the artist and invade her privacy. The title likewise suggests ideas like the circle of life, inevitability of motherhood  and indeed the certainty of maturity and death. 'Untitled' I (2007) again looks at her anatomy, reconfiguring her body, making herself stand out as different from everyone else. This is an evocation of selfhood and individuality.              

Perciyal's spiritual values and their effect on her body is also conveyed in some of her works from this year. One is drawn in particular to 'Without a Pattern' (2007) which by contrast is heavily patterned with her circular rice paper 'feathering'. Is this ironic title the artist pointing to religion and its in-built (unproven) ideas on fate and destiny? One notes the slightly pink nipples and of course the more pronounced halo. The work in this way relates itself to Christian images of the Virgin and other martyred female saints. One is faced with an image of the artist's own sacrifice, perhaps due to her profession in a predominantly male dominated South Indian art world.   

In 2008, the psychological aspect of some of Perciyal's work lessened as new softer themes emerged. She began to use the materiality of her natural mediums to bring a sensation of warmth and familiarity for the viewer. Colours and textures exuded a new welcoming aspect in their choice and execution that no doubt reflected the mental wellbeing of the young artist. A good example is 'Self-Portrait with Squirrel' (2008) from the 'Jerry' series of works. Jerry is her pet squirrel that she befriended in the Lalit Kala Akademi studio. Today she looks after Jerry and his growing family, like a mother, with kindness and love. It has awakened in her feelings she wasn't aware she had as well as given her a new understanding of those little sweet things of life that are so easily overlooked. In this work, the artist hides in the background, a fragile receding ghost, lending a shoulder to her pet represented by contrast in full colour. It is the artist surrendering to the biological urge to mother, to relinquish existence for the sake of one's baby.

In the most recent works in the exhibition, created during her London stay in 2008 and never displayed before at The Noble Sage, Perciyal continues to show her love of materials and newly found imagery. 'Untitled' (Leaf) (2008) and 'Untitled' (Bark with eye) (2008) both were inspired by a visit to Tate Modern. Rather than the art within the building, it was the trees outside that inspired both these works. Typical of the artist, it is in nature that she sees herself and her art rather than in the messages of other artists. 

In 'Untitled' (2008), Perciyal uses her classic rice paper 'feathering' effect along with acrylic paint and subtle drawing in pencil and brown conte. Both works have the bulbous conte shape, though in one the shape sprouts from a boat to produce a house. It suggests change: from nomadic freedom to stability and strength of place. In the partner piece, the Perciyal profile emerges from the bulb shape which in turn comes out of a vase like a bouquet. Again change and personal growth is the theme here. Seen together, these works are reassuring for the viewer; a diptych dedicated to the artist's new place in the world. Neglected no more.   

'Re-Birth: The Art of K. Benitha Perciyal' runs from the 10th June until the 6th July 2013. To view the exhibition or see artworks in person, contact the gallery on 07901944997 or by email on info@thenoblesage.com. If you would like to gather more information on any of these works or on the artist, click on this link. 

Read about S. Ravi Shankar's ‘Theradi Theru, Triplicane (Car Street)’ II (2011)

‘Theradi Theru, Triplicane (Car Street)’ II (2011) by S. Ravi Shankar

Pen and ink on paper
22 x 29 inches
RAVS0055

Looking at this wonderful pen and ink drawing by the once-etcher S. Ravi Shankar, we are truly transported. What at first glance looks like an image of an ancient Hindu ceremony out in the villages of India, is actually located visually and textually by the artist. First by the three floor buildings in the far background, confining the foreground action, no landscape to be seen, and secondly by the title ‘Theradi Theru’ meaning ‘Car Street’, a particular street in Triplicane a highly built up area of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Rather than this being placed ambiguously in the past, ambiguous in location and content, Shankar actually gives us rather a lot of information. The street is called ‘Car Street’ because ‘car’ in Tamil translates as chariot and this street is known for Hindu chariot seen in the background. It is still known today for this feature and for this Hindu processional ceremony. We know this is a recent memory recorded on paper as into the arm of the enigmatic priest in the foreground, Shankar writes that this is a good friend of his. Indeed in other past works Shankar has chosen this friend turned Hindu priest as a main subject. I know from discussion with Shankar that this friend is of particular interest to the artist as he was a very different character and personality when he was young and today has changed into this very pious and transformed figure. We see Shankar’s interest in the duality that our lives can finally show, sometimes an unbelievable dichotomy. For me what is most interesting about this work is the drama that Shankar builds around this main character. There is a real sense that his friend is now a man of the people, a leader of faith, and more literally a directional force for the procession that day. Sound is provided by the drummer boy-priest to his side, other worshipping eyes stare forward from behind him whilst others look to the deities in the chariot in all their glory. It is of course the priest in the foreground who really captures our attention. His seeing eyes raised to the heavens, above us the viewer, the work is filled by his spirituality and the meaningfulness of his role. Do we sense the artist’s envy of his friend’s position? Can an artist ever lead like this?

RAVI SHANKAR: BACK TO HIS CHILDHOOD solo show opens Friday 20th April 2012, 6-8.30pm. To attend or find out more email info@thenoblesage.com                

 
For more works by S. Ravi Shankar, click here.          

Read about 'I'm thrust... Back to my Childhood' IV (2011) by S. Ravi Shankar



‘I’m thrust… Back to my childhood’ IV (2011) by S. Ravi Shankar

Pen and ink on paper
22 x 29 inches
RAVS0051

In this 2011 pen and ink drawing on paper, S. Ravi Shankar shows new diversity in his interest in the conceptual meanings of surface. For the first time that I have seen, surface is used to investigate time and movement. When I spoke to Shankar about this work, he described his memory as a child of standing outside a favourite teashop in his area, effectively killing time and watching the world go by. The teashop owner would shout at him to move on and he instead would take on an even lazier (and in India also disrespectful, particularly toward those senior) pose of one leg cocked up against the other and hands behind the head, as if he had the time for sunbathing. In this work Shankar captures both poses at the same time, the more recent pose being the one more finished, darker in tone and lifted forward with white outline. The previous pose appears to sit behind this pose, leaving a remaining surface imprint like a head would on a cushion. Where past pressure or energy is exerted by the boy, on the extremities of the body, the hands and feet, the drawing is darker gradually becoming lighter and blended in more and more with the surroundings as it reaches the rest of the body which is in ‘the present’. It is as if we the viewer are collecting past experiences as well as more recent/present experience from the image or that the artist is implying that the real world absorbs all happenings. Or perhaps that all past experiences have a relationship to events that follow. This idea in turn is given even deeper meanins when one notes the similarities of parts of both poses to the image of Christ on the cross, an image of past sacrifice for future forgiveness. We can see that Shankar, a Hindu himself, is aware of the connotations of this pose as he writes stigmata into the back of the outstretched hands and accentuates the crossbar of the counter behind the boy and deliberately places a vertical edge subtly behind the child creating a crucifix-like symmetry.  

S. RAVI SHANKAR: BACK TO HIS CHILDHOOD opens at The Noble Sage Art Gallery, London on Friday 20th April 2012, 6-8.30pm. To find out more or RSVP to attend, email info@thenoblesage.com  

For more works by S. Ravi Shankar, click here.