Important Notice

ôShibu NatesanÆs works are engagements with the transient and the ephemeral which he freezes in time. The figures and the embedded narratives are preserved and suspended in a way as to demand scrutiny and contemplation. The language of realism which the artist has adopted induces a tension in the works giving rise to a unique disquietö (R. Siva Kumar, Exile & Longing: Emerging Art Practices from Kerala, Lakeeren exhibition catalogue, 2000,... ôShibu NatesanÆs works are engagements with the transient and the ephemeral which he freezes in time. The figures and the embedded narratives are preserved and suspended in a way as to demand scrutiny and contemplation. The language of realism which the artist has adopted induces a tension in the works giving rise to a unique disquietö (R. Siva Kumar, Exile & Longing: Emerging Art Practices from Kerala, Lakeeren exhibition catalogue, 2000, not paginated). <br><br> In the present lot, a large and quiet canvas portraying a group of swimmers gathered on a multi-level diving platform, Natesan captures and dramatizes an ordinary moment that would probably go unnoticed. Heightening the drama of the scene by positioning the divers against a cloudy sunset, the artist leaves it to his viewers to construe the image and the actions that preceded and will follow this paused moment. As he explains, ôA 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 interpretationö (Each One Teach One, Sakshi Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2007, not paginated). <br><br> Relating the stylistic devices Natesan uses with his artistic agenda, Ranjit Hoskote notes, ôElegant as ShibuÆs hyperrealism is, it is edged with brusqueness. Seemingly easy to access, his paintings are complex visual surfaces: they invite viewers in, only to rebuff themàShibuÆs treatment is only deceptively related to photorealism; in fact, it is not an extension of photography, but a crisp departure from it. He distorts the detail, flattens the depth of field, and employs the harshness of light and extent of shadow to pare down a figure or extend an object into indefinable nuance. This is why, although ShibuÆs paintings originate in magazine photographs, they gain a riddle-like, inexplicable quietness more often associated with the paintings of such masters of the enigmatic situation as Piero della Francesca, Vermeer and Seuratö (Alchemy, Art Musing exhibition catalogue, 2005, not paginated).

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