Shades of Green: Abhijit Saikia
Art & Deal correspondent
Arts4All Gallery in Greater Kailash hosted the solo exhibition of Abhijit Saikia, aptly titled ‘Shades of Green’. It is the artists first ever solo exhibition which consisted of 14 works, including sculpture, painting and wall installation. The work itself is utterly dreamlike in nature, with a surrealist backbone and a subconscious desire to portray the socio-political state of our society.
The artist’s works delve into nature, space and time itself, utilizing a palette of tranquil greens paired with animal forms playfully arranged across the expanse of the canvas. At a glance much of the work appears to be minimalistic, yet on closer inspection one finds a world of detail encapsulated in sporadic sections of the canvas. The element of open space is deliberate, in order to give the viewer space to create his/her own narrative. This surreal world incorporates different aspects of the artists identity, dreams, relationships and memories.
The artist’s belief in Taoism has also heavily influenced the work, an ancient Chinese belief system which promotes achieving harmony or union with nature and self development. Each element in the work represents the artist’s thoughts and experiences pertaining to time, and relating to a particular stage of the artists life in terms of surroundings, period, and situation – these things tend to take on character of their own on canvas.
The artist’s upbringing lends itself to the work, as he spent the first part of his life in his hometown of Dibrugarh in Assam, a land of extraordinary natural beauty which evidently informs the motifs and color palette which he uses. The creation of these surreal scenes which are steeped in nature is also a temporary escape from the hectic urban metropolis in which he currently lives.
The socio-political aspect of Abhijit Saikia’s work is tactful but in by no means concealed. The very inception of the surrealist movement was developed as a philosophical and political movement, in the words of Salvador Dali “Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” And thus we see the natural order of time, space and scale subverted as the artist challenges not only our perceptions but also subtly and powerfully highlights the environmental degradation we face today.
Arts4All is a self-sustaining not-for-profit foundation with Archana B Sapra and Puja Bahri as the founding trustees, it is a multilevel arts forum currently based in GK2, New Delhi. It invites, mentors and funds emerging artists from various regions and genres, to create and exhibit their work and help strengthen their careers. Since its inception in 2011, Arts4All has grown to housing artists in its residency programs, conceptualizing and executing public art projects, conducting art workshops and curating exhibitions. Arts4All within its sphere has an Arts Experimental & Research Center and Exhibition Space & Baithak.
