Raj More lives and works in Mumbai, having studied there in the field of visual art. He had grown up in a small town in Akola in Maharastra. He only paints, and has dedicated his life to visual art, and has had exhibitions in India, Korea and Europe. He won the National Academy Award in the 54th National Exhibition of Art at the Lalit Kala Academy in New Delhi in 2012, and won the 2010 Asia Art ward and Excellence Prize presented by the EM Art Gallery in Seoul. His art is still on display at the Art Summit (India), Korean Art Fair (Seoul), the Bussan Art Fair (Korea) and the Dubai Art Fair. As to why he has chosen to work in Mumbai these last 10 years, he wrote, “I chose Mumbai as the ultimate destination for my work because I love to explore this city which is very well reflected in my work. The aspiration of urban middle class always inspired me which is reflected in my work. I belong to a middle class family and my idea of work starts from there because the concept keeps me alive with its fascinating sights and sounds. I believe, Every Urban City in the world has a soul of its own and it talks to you”, that’s why I always express this as the language of my work.” He finds influence from the city, the trains, cars and rickshaws, the “glam and glitz the city is proud of. My motivation behind my work is my involvement and its circumstances, elements like vehicles, animals and beauties. There is a percieved, self-engaged, sentimental side to the experience of navigating through Mumbai in public transport. The essence of this city of dreams and ‘it’s my life’ attitude is felt in the alterations of the carriages.” The bull features prominantly in much of his work. “The bull symbol represents a controlling power of the city, a serious gap beween the rich and poor. Yes, I agree that I capture violence, be it religious or from Bollywood, as these are part of the urban space. We can’t deny all these things and so it appears in my work.” Humor also plays a large role in his art, and the love he – and his fellow citizens – feel toward their city. “The city gives shelter, bread and butter. Everyone says, Mumbai ham ko jam gayi! Peple all over India, belonging to different cultures come here to realize their dreams. Language has seen a major shift giving its currant flavor which is inspired by culture and immigrants.” The two works featured here are “Ohh la la” (60”x60”, Acrylic on canvas 2013) and “Sarkar (68”x68” Acrylic on canvas 2013). These two come from his new series “Quest of the Never-Departed.” “The world has only enough for everyone’s need. Not enough for everyone’s greed. Yet we wrought a lifelong struggle for it … never resting till we have it all. We head out like conquistadors, desperate to win. Not everyone can triumph – one’s success has to be another’s failure. Even a tiny foothold in a Mumbai local is really a foot on someone else’s foot. ‘All’s fair in war’, says an argument. The question is: should we be at one? But, we are too busy to answer that question, we dismiss the debate of ethics, as poetic drivel. We take. We accumulate. Though our stomachs are full, we plunder from emaciated hands, with such insensitivity; something has to be dead within.” Raj explained his work for me. “Hindu mythology appoints the ‘crow’ as the carrier of souls departed – who come back during the days of the ‘shraddh’* (days of worshipping the dead), through it, to once again indulge in the pleasures of the senses, on earth. I see a metaphor worth taking ahead as a behavior of a society that is morally dead, and therefore – in its excesses – in a perpetual ‘shraddh’ of its own self. This series of paintings adds to my continuing dialogue on Mumbai.I chooses Mumbai as the ultimate destination of the quest. And i handpicks the city’s most ubiquitous avian, the common crow as the protagonist of my canvasses. The city is the ultimate citadel of unfulfilled souls. The city’s most ubiquitous avian, the common crow becomes my protagonist. With that idea and with paint-laden strokes, I try here, to catapult my own anger, frustration, a scream maybe, into these canvasses. In layers upon layers of pigment, I hope to build the physical grit and girdle, and the intellectual gore of urban life. The themes will ooze the bile of some very unkind truths about our times. I feel compelled … I may be one of the last few, who continue to be outraged. Through ‘QUEST’, I am on my own mission to protect this feeling of revulsion – a feeling that is an unfortunate, but probably a welcome irony, in a world that is fast numbing itself into apathy…” You can see more of his art at rajmore
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 14:40:08 +0000
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