Important Notice

Although they seem straightforward and familiar on initial examination, Shibu Natesan’s hyper-realistic images are anything but comfortable. Rather than inspiring the ease that comes with recognition, these works compel viewers to stop and question their own realities. As the artist explains, “A central part of my painting practice involves the quest for a resonant image that refuses to be read directly and which obliges the viewer to make an... Although they seem straightforward and familiar on initial examination, Shibu Natesan’s hyper-realistic images are anything but comfortable. Rather than inspiring the ease that comes with recognition, these works compel viewers to stop and question their own realities. As the artist explains, “A central part of my painting practice involves the quest for a resonant image that refuses to be read directly and which obliges the viewer to make an interpretation” (Shibu Natesan, Each One Teach One, Sakshi Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2007, unpaginated).

Born in Kerala and living between India and England, Natesan combines personal experience and imagination in his artistic documentation of the contemporary human condition, and particularly of social constructs and the violence they can cause, and individual displacement and alienation. Drawing images from sources ranging from historical archives to the current news media, the artist revels in juxtaposing seemingly unrelated elements on his large-format canvases to probe the validity of the frames of perception and reference that are pegged on such images. Through this agitation of the viewer’s weltanschauung, Natesan challenges the authenticity of received information and urges against its blind acceptance. “Such shock contrasts and encounters create strong metaphors…Through the symbolism, the viewer is encourages to shift and re-focus their gaze, and in many instances, to re-address their own socio-political beliefs” (Anne Fleetwood, Shibu Natesan: Vision Unlimited, Grosvenor Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2005).

Like his earlier series Existence of Instinct, the present lot combines images of animals in the wild with more familiar, urban ones from the man made world. Explaining the juxtaposition of images in this piece, Natesan says that it is intended to make “…a comment on the violent nature of the human psyche. It is also a reflection on current world affairs. The boxer lunges out hopelessly at the zebras, which could or could not be real. He will never make contact with his target. The viewer can sense the frustration and madness of this figure that is out of place: he is dressed for the boxing ring but trying to fight in the wilderness of a Kenyan landscape. His enemy is an innocent mass of harmless animals, a shifting, heaving pattern of complex interlocking shapes. This is a frozen moment in a nightmare – the kind where you find yourself impotent, your actions without affect” (Each One Teach One, Sakshi Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2007, unpaginated).

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