Larger than life
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French artist Elzevir gives poster painters a run for their money.
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CANVAS OF LIFE Snatches from the visual drama.
Walk into Daira and take in the sights and sounds of people laughing, staring, walking and standing in the sand, swivel your head near the pillar and behind it stands a man standing uncomfortably in a brown suit.
This is the stuff of French artist Elzevir's life-size portraits drawn during his stint in Pondicherry during an exchange programme. Now on show at Daira, Road No. 5, Banjara Hills, the portraits have the immediacy of drying brush strokes. Done on hard board with the background in shiny oil paint and the subject in buffer but brilliant colours, the portraits evoke the masters with their vivid strokes.
The portraits are not what you can hang on your wall or plant in the middle of your collection but something that speaks about the Indian culture. Be it the woman wearing a sari, the sardarji, or the school girl in red uniform walking with flowers in her hair, Elzevir freezes them in a cultural matrix to be preserved forever.
Step in closer to the body builder flexing his muscles or the woman body builder, then, instead of feeling the presence of a life-size portrait, you get the sense of standing in front of something more intimidating. Perhaps it has something to do with the vibrancy of images. The detailing isn't too much (the eyes hardly have pupils) as the portraits are meant to be seen from a distance. At another level, the portraits appear like poor cousins of the larger than life images of our politicians, film stars and film posters that dot our landscape and mindscape.
SERISH NANISETTI
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