Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to present Uninterrupted Speech by Shibu Natesan, the artist’s first show in India after a gap of 8 years.

Natesan, who did his BFA in Painting from College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, and his MA in Printmaking from MS University, Baroda, was one of the pioneers to bring back realism to the art scene in India in the 1990s.

Uninterrupted Speech is part of an ongoing ‘inner talk’ that the artist has with himself and his surroundings. Executed in London, these canvases capture two kinds of contrasting scenes that the artist experiences there – vast empty landscapes and a close view of human intimacy. These new works are an articulation of Natesan’s life in London where he experiences a loneliness that is both physical and existential. His paintings, however, are not complaints but are about his awareness of being inserted into a place and situation that is not his own.

Uninterrupted Speech is also Natesan’s attempt at refocusing attention to nature and landscape painting, which the artist feels is disappearing from the art scene in India. “But the idea is not so much about the landscape as it is about trying to capture the sense of an absent or present self within this landscape,” says Natesan.

In the 1990s Natesan was instrumental in initiating ‘Mediatic Realism’ in the Indian art scene. His new series is an extension of this style but is also more fluid than his previous work. The ‘uninterruption’ of his inner talk is visible in his smooth, flowing strokes. There is a newfound positivity and buoyancy in his work, which Natesan believes, is a sign of his maturing ease with the message and the medium.

Image: © Shibu Natesan, Vadehra Art Gallery