Integral strokes

"I AM A Christian, but being part of the Hindu society, I draw my energy from both Christian and Hindu religion which enables me to accept, cultivate and interpret the rich cultural heritage of India in the fullest possible way," says artist Ebenezer Sunder Singh, whose works entitled "Balloon Man" were on display at the Easel Art Gallery, Chennai. These include his recent sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings.

Apart from spirituality being the larger tool for his works, his drawing and painting studies at the temples of India and his acquaintance with the Christian mythology have brought forth images mostly Indian in character with contemporaneity as the subtle factor. The Christian-Indian connection is an integral part of his visual imagery in which life and death, pleasure and fear emerge with their own symbolic meanings, and all his reminiscences invade his senses turning them into meaningful pictures with various religious and psychological connotations.

The "Balloon Man" made of fibreglass is the centrepiece of the exhibition - the man and the balloon breathing the same air and life, and they exist in this world or escape together. Ebenezer explains this by saying that life is as impermanent as a balloon which could burst any moment and so also life which could flow out of this mortal body any time. As much as his Christian faith leads him to believe that this world is just a transit place for man, it is also his concept that after this world, there lies a better place for the soul to pass on, which is also the sum total of Hindu philosophy. This is where Christian and Hindu elements merge in his art, making it rich in content and significance. Many of the other works centre around the same theme, and he brings new works in the form of book paintings which are influenced by religious picture books and picture codes of the spiritual manuscripts of India. Each book has several paintings done in water-based paints on handmade paper, the outer cover on both sides being made of copper which help the books stand. The copper plates have beaten drawings on either side and could be displayed as installations standing upright - with the pages open for the viewer to turn from page to page. There are several allegorical drawings as also prints which the artist made at the Kingston University during his visit to England as a Charles Wallace Trust Scholar in 1999.

A fine arts graduate of the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, Ebenezer, has travelled and exhibited abroad and received several research grants and scholarships.

ANJALI SIRCAR

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