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Social comment on the world situation
FOR 40-YEAR-OLD Riyas Komu, art is a medium for social comment on the situations the world is facing today. His works on show up to May 26 at the Renaissance Gallerie on Cunningham Road speak for themselves.
This outlook comes for the artist because of his passion of making documentary films. The one he worked on last year had an unusual theme — "The politics of nostalgia and food." A video movie of eight minutes, it was shot on the streets and roadside restaurants of Mumbai. "The documentaries I make are an extension of my feelings and views, and they have similar themes touching life's many facets,'' says Riyas.
He is not your typical brush-and-camera wielding intellectual. Riyas is quite down-to-earth. So are his paintings. You can call them surrealistic if you must label art, but he is not another Dali. Take for example his painting titled First Aid Box-2002. To describe this image of a wounded "dove of peace", which dominates the painting, he pens a verse: "Angels in traffic. White burning into black. Islands of blood. Birthplace. Motherless black. Here no weapon is positioned backward, look outside your window." ``My paintings reflect our times,'' he says. They are all fairly large canvases. So is this life and our world. Neo-realism is the term he likes to use to describe his own works. Like the painting, Bicycle Thief, partly inspired by the famous Italian film.
What is remarkable about the paintings of Riyas are the multiple media he uses. Enamel, art powder, oil, and charcoal are all used on one canvas.
The works are thick and over-layered, and this gives them more dimension and life. The figures and the backdrop spring out and hit you almost. There is no escaping from what first appears stark and simple, and later, as you keep looking at them, more complex. ``The TV is an invasive medium which brings brutal images and documentaries right into your drawing room,'' he points out. "Art can be for protest. The world should look back at you,'' he says.
By K Satyamurty
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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