A new show Growing Wild by Delhi-based artist Rajesh Ram, of life-size bronze sculptures and oil paintings, is a distinct take on the contemporary urbanised society. This largely showcases playful interactions between young boys and animals. These interactions at first appear delightful, but you’re soon reminded of the climate change crisis, like the state of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and Australian wildfires. These also fill us with hope. But again, this very hope is like a story from a children’s book. Filling the viewer with imagination, joy but in the end it is just a fairytale, distanced from the real.
In this second solo, Delhi-based Ram uses his skill to illustrate political and economic frameworks that define culture and environment. But this thought has evolved from his boyhood memories, the ones contained within the moralistic teachings of popular children’s proverbs. “I have previously engaged myself in Panchatantra series and depicted social issues in relation to that.”
According to the artist, he has polished the bronze figures so these shine a light on pertinent issues. “My work depicts the stereotypical human and animal behaviour that influences the socio-economic structures. Three accompanying paintings demonstrate human-animal harmony where the laws of the jungle prescribe the rules of society.
They also suggest a desire for balance within and between ecosystems.”Many contemporary subjects pepper his works as metaphors. “The fury of the bull is paralleled with the financial markets, or the aggression of the solitary tiger is paralleled with the egotistical man clamouring for personal success.”
As a child, Ram used to watch sculptors at his hometown in Sahibganj, Jharkhand. “Later, I got to know about a course on art at College of Art and Crafts, Patna, which I completed in 2002.” Two years later, he moved to Delhi.
Not just Ram, but his whole family is engaged with the environment. His parents are farmers and his wife keeps an active interest in urban farming. “By helping my wife, Suchismita Mohanty, in planting diverse vegetables on our roof, my art has come to draw influence from this ambience.”
Till: February 12 At: Palette Art Gallery, 14, Golf Links