Flying over Maddy Land

I First met Madhavan Palanisamy and his works in a show that was a part of CPB 2016. The show was called 'in dreams.'. I remember the show for the shock i felt when i encountered the image of beloved writer Kovai Gnani in one of the pictures. i was shocked at the treatment of a father figure and his blindness. i went back to the artist's bio note to gather more information about the artist, and it was a surprise to discover that Maddy was the son of Kovai Gnani. i was also glad to have Maddy around and talk to him about the shock and get over it.

After i got talking to Maddy about the show, i started making sense of his other works, but the portrayal of the father figure was still unpalatable for me. After all these years, i got an opportunity to listen to Maddy again, and this time talking about the entire gamut of his photographic, personal and professional journey on a platform made possible by Thalam. This was a good opportunity for me to understand and appreciate Maddy's works in their entirety over a span of a couple of decades. 

At this juncture, i should thank Thalam for providing an opportunity to listen to and have a glimpse of a lifetime's work of so many photographers. This has come as a boon during this lock down period to understand, appreciate and engage with so many different professional paractices, journeys and aspirations. 

Maddy's upbringing as the youngest child in a doting home, where he was 12 years younger to his elder brother; His scholarly father's doting on him and taking him along to watch avantgarde European movies, and sowing in him a sense of freedom in his thinking and sensibilities all show in different aspects of Maddy's body of works. Maddy seems to savour a childish enquiry and treatment of the world around him. This is most evident in the occasional graphic story board that features in his works.

These graphic illustrations are at once playful and profound in their minimalism. Maddy arrives at photography after dabbling with a career in Pharma and Management. He presented an overview of his works done under commission and of his personal experiments with photography. I have engaged mostly with the non commissioned body of work, though i have occasionally drawn from the commissioned work only to illustrate my view point. In my reading, there are two things that run common through Maddy's body of works - sensuality and playfulness.

Maddy creates an aura of sensuality in his images by playing with the lighting of the face. The sensuality in his images are deeply embedded and coded in the lighting and positioning. A woman's toe placed tenuously on a man's head was the hieght of sensuality in his images for me. But here Maddy plays around with the viewer's perception by not giving the viewer anything away to guess that it is a woman's foot, and further places the image in the middle of a deep cosmos like ambience and evokes the images of a primordial Shiva and Shakthi. 

One also wonders if it is the light that Maddy fancies and fetishizes. This is more so evident in his work built around his visit to America. He is fascinated by the different quality of the light in that part of the world and produces and dreamy body of images, where building facades look like fabric and landscapes carry an European film montage like quality. 

Maddy's playfulness is what is amply evident in most of his work. he does this by introducing Graffiti and toys into his work. 

He introduces another layer of playfulness by knocking down the legs of science and the laws of ordinary perception and throwing an unhinged image at the viewer and inviting him to explore the dimensions that the viewer can bring to the work. In his images, mountains, and rivers are removed from their geographical sensibilities and reduced to a topography of crushed paper, folds on a bed spread and thick lines curving on a graphic sketch board. He would also invert scale by creating a perception of the cosmos from a close up of a conglomeration of speck of dust. 

The series Simla special manifests another dimension of playfulness, wherein he invents new images that monumentalise and marry his own and his son's sensibilities. 

He creates a collage of images and enjoys disrupting the viewers sense of balanced perception. He takes away the viewers crutches of conditioned vision and invites him to discover a new balance in his picture. He invites the viewer to join in on a new state of mindfulness.

Apart from sensuality and playing around, the influence of his writer father runs quite prominent in Maddy's body of work- the obsession with the written word, the type face of a printed word, the aspiration to poem making, the playfulness with which the father gives himself up in totality to his son's playful world - offer interesting paradigms to Maddy's work.

Maddy accords the animal subjects in his pictures a great sense of dignity of a kind that is rare to be ever encountered. i believe this again comes from a very tangential influence of the philosophy to which his father subscribes to. 

Maddy's commissioned works form a small plantation tract in a corner of the dense forest of Maddy land . It is his inventiveness and disruptiveness that come across prominently in his commissioned works for Coffee day, CPB and CSK.

Transgress - Voicing the Vulnerable

        

Transgress- Voicing the Vulnerable

A talk by Vijaysagar Subbaiyaa

At the Spaces, 6 pm 18/2/2020

Participating Artists:

Vishnu Sasi, Clement Raj, JibinBabu, Mani K Ayyappan, Rishi Sasi

Curated by Sujeeth Kumar Sreekandan

( the text of my speech on the above occassion)

I feel excited to be here talking about this show, as I think this is quite a phenomenal and a historic show in the sense that it is simmering with a raw, untamed energy that is characteristic of youth and this energy has become very scarce to come across in this hyper censored world. This bunch of artists is quite gifted in that they have been offered this wonderful platform to present their ideas and practice in an unmitigated manner- unmediated by external factors like institution, mentorship and commercial considerations. It’s also heartening to see that they have risen up to the occasion and put up a very considerate and responsible show thanks to the distant touch of the curator Sujeeth Sreekandan and their mentor, Ganesh Selvaraj.

At this early age in life, an artist is usually subjected to moderation and mediation of the Institution and we scarce get to see the artist untouched by the bigger and sanitising designs of the institution. And after he graduates and starts his independent practice he either loses this untamed fire to the abrasions of life in general or has to give it up to ply by the considerations of the gallery masters. This show is unique because it has happened free of these tribulations and It’s a piece of wild energy presented intact and made palatable to our urbane sensibilities.

Some of these artists have not been to an institution; some of them have not passed out of the institution yet. They share a common umbilical connection to their mentor Ganesh Selvaraj, under whom they have been picking up the nuggets of a professional practice. I want to congratulate their mentor for not having imposed any ideology or narrative contingency on to their work. Though certain influences of style are obvious, the artists are fairly untouched by any kind of ideological proselytization. This is also not surprising, given that Ganesh himself is indifferent and averse to working with an ideology, as it was evident in his recent talk at this venue. Ganesh’s practice hinges around inviting the viewers to approach his works with an open mind.

Ganesh’s long association and work with the artist group Kinetics, I believe has had a very positive influence on this show. Group shows, i have come to realise, offer an interesting and exciting avenue for multiple and varied treatment of a given mood or context in diverse mediums and styles. Group shows are also unique in that they offer a strange beauty in the form of a synergy achieved among artists and works. I believe this show has achieved that synergy and beams with that wild beauty.

Vishnu Sashi’s works are a collage of emotions. While one work reminds the viewer of crumpled balls of failed love letters another plays around with the crumpled balls of paper as a distracting tool to distract the viewer from the stark images on the collage and also to add a visual dimension of a disturbed mind to the work. A third work featuring a collage of pieces of canvas featuring distorted and animated versions of still life from every day images is interspersed with coloured pieces of cardboard. Vishnu seems to have a special liking for the striated surface of the card board which again features in a work of ensemble of embossed shapes created with canvas.

Each image in Vishnu’s collage is worthy of an undivided and complete attention in themselves. Yet he prefers to present these images as an assortment, and bury them in a maze, leaving it to the viewer to dig up and relish the images that savour their individual sensibilities.

At this age in life these young minds are bound to be bothered by so many existential questions for which there would seemingly be no answers or help forthcoming from people around them. Clement has chosen to take refuge from these bothering questions in travels and look at the sadness around him as a bystander. Themes of travel recur all overhis works. He has reduced the human figure to a caricature that looks like a question mark, and all these figures seem to be in some form a journey- some seem to be going down a drain hole, others seem to be going around in circles and everyone seems to be in search of that ever elusive key to all their problems. Clement’s works come across as the more polite and understated work of this show.

Jibin’s works are the most disturbing ones of this lot. Jibin has used the metaphor of ant to convey a persistent source of intrusion and irritation. The wire sculptures of ant are throbbing with life and look threatening streaming in in colonies, they could as well be a buzzing colony of bees. The singular ant caught in an island of white looks like swearing vengeance and poised for action. It is also interesting and serendipitous to note that this figure of the ant has ivolved into motif for the show idealizing the seeming naïve and innocent creature that can be a painful source of irritation to the authority.

His self portrait epitomizes a highly disturbed mind. Two ashen and robotic arms seem to have knocked an eye off, depriving him of the solace he seeks in his dreams and look like tearing his face apart and can be very painful on the viewer.

His ‘curse of a tree’ stands tall in vision and concept but somehow fails to make the visual impact on the viewer. A little tweaking with the colour scheme could make a big difference to this work.

Rishi creates a stratigraphy aping the physical elements with a combination of material-  the tower made of wood, the undulations of surface in the form of ears, noses and genitals in plaster of paris, the river of thread that runs across the striated surface. Together, this jigsaw pattern of geographical features offers a visual puzzle of sorts and opens itself to interpretations of the viewer.

The sturdiness of wood probably alludes to the rigidity of institutions and the people we come across there, the undulations in plaster of paris allude to a sensuality of a private moment and the threads evoke a feeling of the self that keeps flowing on its course in space and time immaterial of these public and private encounters. Rishi manages to bring together a drama of these elements condensed across space and time on to his work.

While talking to Mani Ayyappan about his works he dropped this beautiful word ‘Prathishetha sekshi illathaaal’ in Malayalam for a man who is not capable of reacting to the things in the society. This word was so fulsome and enough for me to talk volumes about his work. The man in the photo wanting to cut himself off from the society could be Kafka’s GregorSamsa, or Sallinger”s Holden Caulfield or Rahel and Estha from the God of Small Things.

The figure in these photos seems to be crying out in deep pain to a deaf or nonexistent society. He has either been left behind or lost his way. This series is more relevant today in these times of social networking, where one is expected to have and voice an opinion about everything. Even as an artist one is often faced with this question of how does one’s work reflect the times we live in.

These works that are full of young adult consternations and rebellion beautifully fit into the theme of Transgress. This is an age when one would want to break the rules and create new ones. Transgress could also highlight the absurdity of the rules and the times we live in.  I am very happy for these artists for they have made a studied choice of medium, concepts and ideas to express their transgression. In the process they have made themselves vulnerable, yet showing great character. The music played by the band INK on the opening day complemented so well the art and spirit of this show.

Sujeeth has played the crucial role of handling these bundles of explosive energy with care, helping them choose from their portfolio of works, liasoning with stakeholders, enabling a discourse around the show and giving us a show that will be remembered as a brilliant milestone in the Chennai art scene. He has tended to these artists as a loving elder and guided them in this enterprise.

Now for the bigger question of where does the narrative strand of this show fit in the wider discourse of the art world? In this context I would like to quote a British polish Sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman. He says what we see in action around us is a new Tribalism, a collective reaction to liquid modernity, that has resulted in the dissolution of traditional bonds and certitude imposed on a society by the vast processes of economic and social transformation triggered by globalization. While on the one hand globalization gathers individuals and communities together into an ever expanding web of consumption and production, on the other hand it loosens the matrices of existential value in which lives were conducted previously in this planetary drama.

I believe this show kind of resounds with anger and concern about the asymmetries that is inherent in this circulatory culture of Globalisation between those who can participate in it and those who are left behind. Transgress I believe has endeavoured to talk about the absurdities of our times and giving a voice to the vulnerable

While looking at this show in the context of the art scene in Chennai, I am constantly drawing a parallel with the ‘Labour’ show curated by C P Krishnapriya that was shown here sometime back. In this context, I miss a well drawn out Curatorial statement that I look forward to in any show. It is a joy for me to see the words blown up and put up at the entrance to a show. It offers an anchor for the viewer to approach the show. It’s a joy to keep going back to it to appreciate the show better.

I am happy to see the eyes of these artists untouched by any false sense of achievement, ambition or anxiety, rather immersed in the joy of the moment, snuggling against each other and enjoying their moment under the sun. It’s also heartening that their curator and mentor have given the moment all to them, withdrawing and keeping a distant watch from the background.

The life of an art does not end with hanging it in the gallery; it is the discourse around an art work that can add new dimensions to an art work. I wish to take this opportunity to request artists to take an extra effort to make every visitor feel very welcome to an art show and I want to encourage everyone in general to visit art shows and assure you that you don’t have to be a buyer to visit an art show. Every viewer is capable of adding to the discourse and enriching the art. It is in a bid to kick start such a culture of deliberation and discussion around art that this talk and discussion was conceived. I welcome you all to pitch in with your thoughts on the show.

photos courtesy: scaffold art fb page 

Nibandhana

One of the most exciting, fulfilling and memorable performances i got to see this Decemeber season was Nibandhana by Vaibhav Arekar and Sankhya. It stood out for it's vivid demonstartion of possiblities of lighting n group dynamics in a dance performance. 

One sees a pressing and a constant quest among dancers of BN as to how to create something new or different into their repertoire. Few manage to do this by dancing to pieces of poetry chosen from different languages etc. But Sankhya dance company showed how u can bring so much difference to a traditional varnam ( the longest and usually the central piece in a BN performance) by thinking differently. 

The 'Mohamaana' is a traditional Varnam danced by almost every other dancer in a given season, for it offers so much scope for exploring and elucidating on the Shringara rasa. Dance performances that don't touch upon Shringara in the varnam or the padam can leave you feeling dry. ( Something that Priyadarshini Govind did in her performance at the Academy. She chose to present only Devi and VAtsalya). How sad and uninspiring would dance look without Shringara.

The execution of Mohamaana varnam by a group was so refereshingly different idea in itself. Only the other day the idea of a multi body presentation of the varnam looked so appealing in a presentation by Rama Vaidyanathan's students at BGS, but it had so many glitches and left one wishing for a better treatments. In a group presentation it can be a disaster to have two nodes executing movements at the same time. The viewer tends to get lost in such scenarios. 

Sankhya's treatment, in contrast, was a brillant exposition of what the group exploration of the Varnam could offer and brought great joy in the way of interesting pacing and captivating formations. Here too the group did form into nodes to execute movements but the movements were in a way of complementing each other and hence augmented the viewing experience. 

The piece 'Priye Charusheele' was a piece in which the vocal dynamics of Karthik Hebbar came to the fore and was mesmerising to say the least. Vaibhav should consider letting a younger dancer perform the Krishna role for the piece to complement the romance in the piece better. When Vaibhav performs romance, it has the aura of a guru performing ingrained in it and doesn't yield itself to the magic that's waiting to be tapped. 

The final thillana saw brilliant moments of magic woven with lighting ( by Sushant Jadav) and choreography, there was an unbelievable moment of brilliance, that i consciously blinked eye to try and grasp the magic without being transported by it.

Vaibhav seems to have mastered the craft of infusing an ingenious spirit and energy into the traditional BN repertoire by playing around with pace, formations, lighting and music. Therein lies a secret waiting to be tapped by young dancers looking to make a difference.

I am very glad that i managed to brave many odds and caught up with this performance at NKC.

NKC 2019

Natya Kala Conference 2019, the annual delibrations and celebrations of dance that Krishna Gana Sabha hosts, and in its 39th edition, will be remembered for the image of its convener Rama Vaidyanathan, that loomed all over every aspect of the proceedings. I can't say if it has ever been so earlier, but from what i have seen in the past two editions, i have known Srinithi, the previous convener keep a low profile while operating from behind the scenes and she was more visible only towards the end of the previous edition, probably because she was signing off. Whatever may be the pros and cons of such an influence, brand NKC, for one, has shot to very high levels of popuarity across India and the world over and sure has set a standard that others would soon vie to adopt and future conveners of NKC are assured of a far n wide reach.

Rama set the ball rolling with deciding to charge the delegates a fee of Rs.500 for attending the 5 day conference. I was an enthusiastic supporter for the initiative, but soon the hassles it gave rise to fizzled out my enthusiasm. i will discuss this a little later in the article.

The Nirikshna theme music and the call for dance videos received entries from across the world and set the buzz of NKC high and loud; it was also quite a revelation in terms of capturing the enthusiasm, the structures and reach of barathanatyam across the globe. The video was also a great initiative in it could have been the first choreo exercise for many students, marking a stage in their evolution as performers. This was quite an exciting phase in the run up to NKC.

It was also quite a revelation that the reach n enthusiasm for videos for Nirikshana theme music also translated into an overwhelming attendance that had flown in from all around the world. One can say for sure that this is the biggest number of footfall that any any dance festival in Chennai could have garnered in the recent times. 

All this enthusiasm and crowd also left many chennaities stranded outside without a place in the auditorium. The frustration even got worse with The legacy lights segment being staged in a even smaller venue, leaving many out unfortunately.

On my part i could only manage to catch the action online on Shaale.com. One had to pay to get access online. Since i was not going to be in town for three days of the festival, i decided it was better to pay for the online access. The videos featured in Shaale were very good, efficiently edited and mastered, giving people who missed the live action, a complete feel of the festival. The organisers could have considered people who pay for attending the conference access to Shaale as well , considering many who had paid could either not turn up or not be there on all five days and were left out of the auditorium given the limited capacity. It was another sad thing that the Shaale access did not cover the wonderful Legacy lights and Torch bearers segments.

The festival opened with the much cherished and celebrated coming together of three legends of the BN world on the stage. IT was a dream opening to the festival with the audience eager to catch every little moment of the legends on the stage. The screening of segments from Viralimalai kuravanji, which brought the three together, staged in 1987 from DD archives was a very special and thrilling moment. Humble respects to the people who had arranged for retrieving and mastering this treasure of an archival material.

The back stories of what went behind bringing the three legends together back in 1987 made for a very interesting recounting by Seetha Ratnakar. It was heartening that Padma Subramanyam did not forget to thank the Devadasis of Viralimalai. 

The festival i think managed to hit it off perfectly well with dancers young and old alike and also in delibrating on topics ranging from the dance histories to adventures. The festival also managed to bring in expertise from across India and the world to share their knowledge.

NKC seems to have transformed itself into a Dance seminar, an event for the dancers to sit back and talk about dance. One question that keeps nudging at me and i wish such forums deliberate up on is,  where is the audience for Dance, where have they vanished, how to bring them back. This is something these festivals should look into and address.