Images of the past
Artist Chelian uses the ubiquitous images of Mohenjodaro and Harappa as his visual vocabulary
LINEAR STROKES One of Chelian's works
There is a re-visitation of the sites and artefacts of ancient civilisations in the exhibition titled "Mohenjodaro and Harappa Series" by artist Chelian at Ayya Art Galleries. The ubiquitous images of Mohenjodaro and Harappa are the dancing girl, the bull on the seals, the enigmatic script and the portrait of the priest. The artist has unfailingly capitalised on this imagery to make it work as his visual vocabulary.
Chelian, a compulsive artist, believes in working on his drawings, experimenting with techniques and exploring different concepts. And these dimensions of his creative personality form the bedrock of his art. It is no wonder that he has explored diverse aspects of the ancient Indian civilisation and moved beyond to include Egyptian and Cretan.
The latter two are manifest in the representation of the mummies and the charging bull. Chelian nevertheless has imaginatively juxtaposed the imagery of Mohenjodaro, especially the dancing girl with Egyptian mummies and representation of the bull. Some of the artworks are creatively explored with motifs of scripts, the great bath, and the dancing girl in earth colours projecting an ancient worn out feel. Some pieces are line drawings, rendered either with ball point or felt pen on canvas. The predominating style is linear with a strong design underpinning his compositions. Since the medium employed is oil and acrylics, it has aptly lent itself to imparting the design character. The line defining the bull generates energy to become a potential symbol of fertility and power. The imagery is made even more potent with the colours that include dark blacks and ochres.
Underpinning his imagery is the eroticism and sexuality that add verve and vitality to his small canvases. The sweeping rhythmic lines create tight tension melding the powerful form of the bull with the delicate sensuousness of the girl. The acrobatic lines thus perform a trapeze-like action making his canvases pulsate with life. The archetypal woman and the bull are redefined by the artist to fit them into the contemporary context. It is also reflective of the female iconography within the Indian plastic tradition, noticeably the yakshinis, salabhanjikas or the alaskanyas.
The technique employed by Chelian should have had a consistency, since in certain canvases there is a juxtaposition of fluid spontaneous strokes with fine precision of his drawing, while some frames are purely defined by the application of colours and precision of forms. This creates a visual tension. In addition, in a show that is thematically based, the artist should refrain from displaying works of earlier exhibitions. This takes away the crispness of viewing and makes it a pot pourri.
This show which marks Chelian's 23rd solo exhibition is on view at Ayya Art Galleries, 33, Woods Road, Royapettah.
ASHRAFI S. BHAGAT
