“I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.”
— Jackson Pollock
Vijay Pichumani is a master of black and white. The Chennai-based maverick artist has carved a niche for himself as one of the more prolific artists emerging out from the south. Black and white or monochrome as one would call it has an intensely amazing relationship with any artist. Flip through a black and white photograph, and it will take you down memory lane. Vijay Pichumani’s art has constantly communicated nostalgia. Always a brilliant student in college, he picked a medium which is unfortunately noted as the most popular. Wood cut is a form of print making which is a very tedious form of art which requires equal amounts of technical skill combined with a handling of woodcut. Vijay is known for his massive woodcuts, and in this show, he displays 20 prints. Vijay’s inspiration for the current series is purely accidental. The story goes that soon after college, his family wanted him to earn money and contribute. So he went back to his village. There, amidst a quarrel about his future, Pichumani heard many crows quibbling amongst themselves. “Ï felt it was similar to the fight (I was having) with my family” he says. Rushing out, he found a crow dead, and hordes more flying around in circles, cawing. Enthralled by the scene, he began to draw the winged beauties. Soon after, he convinced his family and came back to Chennai. Here he found a dead crow. He picked it up brought it back to the studio and started studying it, which began his Crow series. The artist feels that when an onlooker sees anything in colour, one tends to lose a lot of details. Challenging, printmaking as a medium has been the go-to medium for the artist. For four years, he studied nature and its elements. Speaking about his work, and the print king medium he says, “The art of printmaking is a visual exploration of using nature to portray my eye from a perspective. I follow woodcut as a relief printing technique in printmaking. The wood used for printmaking is a gift from nature. I combine my thoughts, feelings, and emotions with the wood, making it meaningful and vibrant.” Pichumani’s Invincible is a 4 x 8 artwork that uses natural elements of sound through animals and birds. As always, curator Jayanthi Shegar has been successful in juxtaposing some of the best works from the artist’s repertoire. The show is on at Art Houz until October 27.
— The writer is an art expert and curator.
