WOMEN THAT PACK A PUNCH
At exhibitions, there is often the kind of art that puts you
to sleep and then there’s the kind that shakes up each cell in your body,
changing the alchemy of your very existence.
As you enter the exhibition hall at Park Gallery, the thing
you may notice first is how the women in Umesh Shah’s latest solo exhibition
titled Invention in Tradition—their
standing, seated, reclining bodies splayed in the most unflattering of
poses—disregard you.
Whether it be in the distinct sharpness of their
two-dimensional eyes that stare unfalteringly at the world, or in the
expressions evoked through the uninhibited turn of their lips, the women are
striking, bold, unbeatable. It looks like every woman in this collection of 31
paintings is smirking at the world, and by extension, at you, the audience. “We
don’t give a hoot about you,” they seem to casually proclaim.
Shah predominantly works in blues and greens; the turquoise
colour itself feels like an overarching theme, and seems to represent
moonlight. Even though the paintings are oil/acrylic on canvas, they carry a
rustic feel, creating the impression of Maithili art that has aged on village
walls for years, causing some of the paint to peel or chip away. The brightness
of the colour combination coupled with the uneven texture brings the paintings
to life. On top of that, everything in Shah’s paintings is injected with
personality, whether it’s the women themselves, or the mirror one of them holds
in a painting, or the barely visible cat in the background in another.
At a juncture in human history such as this, we often look
upon traditions as cumbersome barriers to individual freedom and liberty. Yet,
with the increasing legitimacy that individuality has gained, humanity has also
come to face an existential crisis where isolated individuals have hit upon a
dearth of meaning.
Perhaps traditions did serve a role to make life meaningful,
even though in their appearance they seemed to confine. Perhaps there is
something in them to preserve, maintain, recreate. Shah’s collection pushes
forth this idea, reclaiming the traditional space of Maithili art with an
unabashed celebration of women that wander through the night, mingling with
darkness and indulging in their sensuality.
In re-inventing traditions, Shah inevitably subverts them,
provoking the orthodox eye, but also providing scope for modern, fragmented
lives to find a home, feel native, start belonging again.
Art is ultimately philosophy, and in its essence, this collection
gestures towards an inner freedom that neither tradition nor modernity can take
away from us.
Invention in Tradition
is on exhibition at Park Gallery in Patan until April 23.
