The Hindu : New Delhi News : Portraying rickshaw-pullers to signify the struggle of mankind

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Tuesday, Apr 22, 2008
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Portraying rickshaw-pullers to signify the struggle of mankind

Madhur Tankha

Artist’s muse: The rickshaw transforms the canvas space into aesthetic divisions of beauty and grimness.

NEW DELHI: Even as modern means of transport like the low-floor Delhi Transport Corporation buses and high-speed metro railway have changed the face of the Capital, artist Sanjay Kumar has chosen to shed light on the hardship endured by the poor rickshaw pullers in his first solo painting exhibition.

The ten-day exhibition of recent works by the Jhansi-born Sanjay opened at Triveni Kala Sangam here on Monday.

Recipient of a Lalit Kala Akademi scholarship, Sanjay has been carefully observing the modus operandi of the poverty-stricken rickshaw pullers in the bustling Walled City area of Delhi.

“I have been observing their way of living at Darya Ganj. During noon time, a majority of them congregate near the Darya Ganj Fire Station to break for lunch. I have even visited their kholis (hutments) and sketched their family members. I like the rickshaw form in itself which has its own abstraction and essence. Apart from its vehicular utility, the dynamic aesthetics of the form attracts me.”

In the modern scenario, the rickshaw may be seen by the public as an archaic mode of transport, a utilitarian tool, but for Sanjay it is his muse and source of inspiration to highlight his own struggle to earn a livelihood through brushstrokes. “I try to portray the rickshaw as I imagine it and not as it should be. At times the man gains absolute focus, completely overshadowing the rickshaw. My thoughts continuously recreate these images, either as very superficial or as natural and realistic. However, gradually the realism of the forms gets dissolved, giving way to abstraction.”

According to art consultant and curator Preeti Kathuria, the series of works revolve around and resonate with rickshaws to signify a hidden narrative.

Artistic apparatus

“Using the rickshaw puller as a metaphor to depict the struggle of mankind and perhaps the artist’s own life seems to demystify the artistic apparatus. The rigid ambivalent faces under the mask of objectivity inspire the artists to paint them.”

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