Photographic canvasses capturing nature on view from today

Striking detail and vibrant hues at a Nature Morte gallery exhibition, that opened on Thursday here, transport the viewers to lakes, mountains and valleys, just as canvasses are rendered a mystic and photographic quality at the same time.

Titled "Gazing at Reality", the solo exhibition of new paintings by artist Basist Kumar make use of oil and acrylic on canvas, to capture natural phenomena.

Kumar, who has studied art in Santiniketan and China's Academy of Art, says what interests him about nature is its "perceived enigmatic quality".

"Our experience of nature, as an everyday encounter, is charged with mysticism and spirituality.

"Both birth and death are rooted in nature and throughout our lives we develop physical and psychological relationships with it," he said in a statement.

What makes the works stand out are the rich colours of the canvasses and a stillness that define them -- making them realistic to the point of resembling a photograph.

"(In his paintings) there is the sense of something epic going on, as if from ancient myth, yet it can't really be articulated," Nature Morte said in a statement.

"There is a conceptual, meditative gravitas to these landscapes, they are like fever dreams, they seem to defy cognition," it added.

Kumar, who started exhibiting his works in 2007, has previously exhibited in Hangzhou, Berlin, Kolkata and Delhi galleries.

The month-long exhibition is open for public viewing till November 17.

--IANS

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