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In an exclusive narrative to Saffronart, RM Palaniappan elucidates on his creative process, work and development through the years.

"During my schooling, interest on science made me imagine myself as a scientist; also my deep involvement in mathematics and astronomy gave me a door way to see a new world of abstractions. Conscious dreaming of positives and building the imagination of future and its collective...
In an exclusive narrative to Saffronart, RM Palaniappan elucidates on his creative process, work and development through the years.

"During my schooling, interest on science made me imagine myself as a scientist; also my deep involvement in mathematics and astronomy gave me a door way to see a new world of abstractions. Conscious dreaming of positives and building the imagination of future and its collective sensibilities put me forth to be an artist by nature.

"No one was born as an artist or every one is an artist when they use the creative side of the brain. The physical and psychological aspect of process of creation is always a wonder when you are aware of it. No matter where you stand on the line; it is the processes of extending the line by understanding the same in all respect by the total awareness of, in and out of the line that you have created- the breath, the life and the body.

"My formal education in art unwrapped several origins of the creative process and its aesthetics. My interest in science and psychology is becoming the subject matter of my art and thought process; art is not merely aesthetics awareness. It is visual analysis and thought; above all, it is to me an expression of Time – Space – Environment, relationship in the context of string between physical and psychological perception of the matter.

"1970: Lakshmi Theatre in my native town, Devakottai – I was around 13 years and I saw my first English film based on the second world war; the event took place around the Reichstag in Berlin; I could not understand who was fighting whom, but the cross firing and the flight of the war planes made a deep impression in my mind that inspired me to see several war films later during my art school period in Madras; all of which heightened this impression of the moving object. My first creative composition painting called ‘Dancing steps on my birth day’, the birth day of my first creative painting instigated me to understand my deeper fascination of the moving objects.

"1979 -80: My fascination and impression on flying machines and flight made me to work several paintings on this subject and finally my interest end up with the aesthetics of the structural part of the machines and the mathematics which also leads to my mixed media works.

"During 1982, when the series of my works - flying man was becoming static, and well defined and more towards the object oriented drawing, again I was redirecting my senses aligned with ‘motion’; and my search was to find the physical picture of the invisible movement. Only this was the turning point of thought towards the subject matter of my works; and here I understood the value of physical and psychological perception of the matter in term of the concept of Time – Space –Environment and the energy as a movement and life. The symbols represent the physical reality; the formula, chart, mathematics and technical phrases are related to material universe and later these symbols have evolved beyond material forms.

"Later in 1984 through 88, my creative journey went across several layers of this matter and I found the importance of the different perceptions of the world and its existence that allow me to search these phenomenon in the context of ‘documents’; and various experimentation on the sensibilities of documents let me create a series of works called ‘Document –‘in mixed media graphics. The subject matter of this period is also extended an immense freedom for adding several collage materials and work with mixed media and also rethink the term graphic in a better and more contemporary manner. The free line and organization of different collage materials on the print were established in this period to investigate relationship of the various motions in the context of various perceptions.

"My first physical experience on flight was in 1990 and seeing the land patterns through the window and later several similar experiences changed my view of moving land architectures; from this period onwards physical perception of the matter was becoming the predominant and counter in my work; and of course time to time I was exploring the importance of psychological aspect of the matter which was inseparable. Due to descriptiveness of the drawing during this phase, my intense interest in drawing let me to do experiment on shape, inter activeness of the forms and the space in ‘conte’ drawings and it took me more than six years for exhausting myself to come out of this series of ideas. Also this period made me to do several sketch book drawings and written materials on these experimentations. Also I realize drawing is the process of searching the space and experience of our soul; it is a journey into the unknown space and the discovery of our mind as the evidence of the same; drawing defines the constant ideas of our motion at a given time space.

"Between 1990 and 96, the experimentation which I pursued, made me realize the significance of the negative space and its value in term of physical and psychological perceptions; and one example may explain here to understand this phenomenon: as you put object of different shapes inside a glass bottle and stir and shake the bottle –all the positive shape inside the bottle will move and the changing phenomenon of the negative space inside the bottle is always the evidence of a movement.

"In 1999, my visit to Germany and walking and photographing around the Reichstag at Berlin recollected the hidden sensibilities of the World War II which were psychologically experienced by me through the war films in my early days. On my return various explorations on these experiences of Germany and Reichstag at Berlin, the sequences of mixed media work and graphics and drawings in 1999-2000, the great opening was shown to me for my present series of works – abstraction of the line and movement which I connected to the present state of nation, world and politics to stress the social awareness."

RM Palaniappan, Chennai 2007

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