Painting to cope with the horrors of the pandemic

As Covid-19 continues to play havoc with our lives and the economy, artists Sanu Ramakrishnan, Uma Shankar Pathak and RS Babu comment on these unpredictable times via a group show titled Journey Beyond. Showcased at Delhi’s Gallery 1000A, the exhibition observes the spread of the disease in urban and suburban habitats.

Artist Sanu V Ramakrishnan has expressed his dismay with a minimal palette of monochrome hues. The scene spells the tragedy of having lost a loved one, a final farewell around whom the mourners gather on the canvas. “These works capture the everyday lives of the masses, people who are not considered to be the ‘history makers’. Desires, disappointments, hopes and consolations are portrayed here as life move fast.”

Ramakrishnan also spoke about how he coped with these times: “Art was the only relief for me in this time of great adversity. The absence of any other daily constraints also helped in the production of artistic creations. I realised that overcoming any adversity is the challenge of time, as a social being, and even more as an artist. The only way to overcome this dilemma was thoroughly engaging in art.”

Artist RS Babu approaches his surroundings and finds out his metaphors such as the remains of fallen and left out branches of wild-wood and roots and shockingly discovering creeping growth of termites on them makes the ruin so fast to reach its end. Here, the artist unveils the chart of decay and the cycle of life and reminding how temporal and ephemeral the edifice of vanity is.

For Uma Shankar Pathak, his canvases present a concrete vista of the urbanity synchronised rural life.

“I hail from a farmer family, and I came to this city as a migrant full of dreams and desires. So, when I see the migrants roaming in large numbers on the roads, stations, buses, I am just amazed thinking about their degree of expectation and to what extent will they ever be satisfied.” 

According to Pathak, the images speak about the spontaneous and restless acts of the migrant labourers.

“The imageries further tend to mirror the rigidity and flexibility of the urban-rural life suggested through the constructive abstract forms. The street lights, zebra-crossings, etc., act as a metaphor of such urban rigidity as opposed to the plough-share, mostly seen in my earlier paintings as a central object.”