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Creative number game
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V. V. Ramani's collages on show at the Alliance Francaise, focus on the meaning of numbers
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MANIPULATING FORM AND COLOUR One of artist V. V. Ramani's works on display
Made famous by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the early 20th Century, collage has since been acknowledged as an art form. It is essentially a technique involving gluing pieces of paper or other flat material onto a support. Simple though this sounds, it requires a creative and clever mind to produce an aesthetically cohesive whole from mixed elements.
With an art education gained from the Government College of Fine Arts, V.V. Ramani has chosen to follow many paths, all leading to art and design. While wearing many `designer' hats, one of the trajectories in which his creativity has been channelled is the medium of collage. His current exhibition of collages titled `Sankhya: The Number Series' focusses on the meaning of numbers. The artist says, "In an age where everything is a number game, I decided to focus on what numbers were actually — to mean the philosophy of numbers, through my artistic eyes. When I see `one', I am reminded of the supreme Brahman, `two' reminds me of duality and so on."
The diminutive gallery space adeptly manages to showcase his renditions of numbers such as of the Navarasa or the nine emotions, the four seasons, the Pancha Bootham or the five elements and the like. `Three' is depicted as the cosmic energy of Shakti in the resplendence of Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. Flanked by pale faces with accompanying iconography of pink and white lotuses, the flaming red face of goddess Durga is prominently placed and marked with the characteristic slanted eyes. While the inspiration is totally Hindu, and in that it assumes its Indian identity, this work of art also shows signs of cultural hybridity in the pop art feel it wears. The red area has at its centre the signature of Italian designer Salvatore Ferragamo, certainly a pastiche of the religious with the popular.
Using varied papers from magazines to gift wrappers, Ramani plays with form and manipulates colour to create meaning. While numbers claim to be the focus, forms styled by colour steal the show. The works are on display at the Gallery at Alliance Française of Madras on College Road, until August 26.
SWAPNA SATHISH
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