Indian pseudo-realism

Indian pseudo-realism

decembrie 4th, 2010

anjali

Short and not-exhaustive trip into the Indian post liberal cultural universe

I am continuing my pursuit into the expressions of Indian modern art. This is not a scientific article, but more of a collage of information which I want to share with you regarding an artistic movement called pseudo-realism. And I was looking for its expression in India. Enjoy!

Pseudorealism or pseudo-realism is defined as an artistic and dramatic technique in which unreal matter is presented in a fashion that makes it appear real. The term, originally applied to describe the prose fiction of Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Gunter Grass, John Fowles

Although we can find expressions of pseudo-realism in literature and film, pseudo-realism remains mainly understood as a style of fine arts. Yet, it is of utmost importance the fact that pseudo-realism is today the most general undercurrent of most visual representation of this new century

Let’s have a classical approach and give space first to the Indian pseudo-realist literature. One representative is the writer Arundhati Roy, whose God of Small Things portrays a Kerala of the sixties which had irked the communist parties in India. Reality perceived by the writer is thus contested by others, even though a layman may not be able to identify the pseudo-real elements.

Arundhati Roy, pseudo-realism.com

In the movies, pseudo-realism can be traced in almost all the thrillers that are capable of transporting the readers to a world of fantasy. Though the word pseudorealism has a recent coinage, film makers all over the world as like writers and visual artists had always been making films and telling stories and creating images to push forward their ideas. And ideas cannot be cited through reality alone; they require to be expressed through juxtaposition of elements of reality with the surreal. Movies belonging to film makers like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen can be framed as pseudo-realistic.

Satyagit Ray, The Apu Trilogy, wikipedia.org

One representative movie is Kanchan Seetha, one of G. Aravindan’s more popular films. In this, the director tried to portray the characters of Ramayan in a tribal setting thereby braking the elitist pro-aryan image of Hindu God Ram.

G. Aravindan’s movie Kanchan Seetha, pseudorealism.com

And the cherry on top, as we said, the pseudo-realism finds its utmost expression in art. The founder of pseudorealism as an independent genre of visual art in India is Ray Devajyoti. Born in 1974, he is a painter and installation artist. His works have been exhibited internationally and have been acquired by many art academies. He had no formal training in art, his techniques are largely self-developed and this adds to his uniqueness. He uses large areas of flat colours, offbeat shapes and yet at the end the paintings look realistic and comprehendible. Ray has also worked in water colours and mixed media and has produced many new forms of experimental art. Ray paints scenes of everyday life with a touch of subtle irony.

Ray Devajyoti, Setting Notes , 2003, wikipedia.org

Pseudorealism involves the use of offbeat colours and abstract shapes to arrive at an imagery which looks as comprehendible as real. Ray has explained how his work is influenced by the work of Bridget Riley.

Bridget Riley, Shadow Play, 1990, wikipedia.org

One influence in modern art pseudorealism comes from the French movement Fauvism, whose main representatives were Henri Matisse and André Derrain.

Henri Matisse, Woman with a hat, 1905, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, wikipedia.org

It is not to be neglected the influence of optical art, better known as op art.

Victor Vasarely, optical illusion, wikipedia.org

But the most interesting is that Ray Devajyoti has found its inspiration in the Indian art forms, like Kathakali, where actors use paints on faces which have no parallel in reality.