Arun Ravi
Artist Statement
I experience my living space with a certain kind of curiosity; the experiences, the narratives and the expressions, endlessly attract my senses. These create ripples in my mind, be it an unrest or a certain sense of calm, the fictional visuals they create are the subjects of my art work. Figures that dominate the pictorial spaces in my works mostly appear to be in a calm or an unrest, sometimes detaching themselves with their backgrounds and at times blending in with them. Their body language is what I create with great care to achieve these expressions. The subject of a drawing mostly creates a discourse with the spectator, but so does the medium, the material and the figures. I experiment with my mediums and sketches. Making compositions from the sketches which I initially create sometimes gives me accidental aspects that have a certain theatricality. Dissecting and merging the images together creates visions of the unfathomable. Human beings along with the flora and fauna that occupy prominent places in my drawings are similar to the property representations in the Malayalam dramas that I take inspiration from. Though they have a connection with my personal being, they create dialogues with the spectators and also discourses respective to their spaces which holds an important purpose. Initially I used to draw on Buckram clothes but the lack of texture made me shift to paper, I always choose my mediums according to the situation and subject. My drawings are less subjective while comparing them to the other mediums I work with. These mediums appeal to the crowds more than drawings which reach a larger audience. My drawings are minimalistic compared to my works in other mediums, I have a certain favouritism towards them. I am trying to explore and experiment with techniques, mediums, living spaces and myself through my art.