CHENNAI: When all forms of intangible elements of life, memories, emotions and thoughts began taking control of Naren Inow, a city-based self-taught artist, calligrapher-cum-designer, he decided to channelise the intensity of his expressions into art.
“I am the first generation artist from my family, who came out to light. I discovered that my grandfather paints, only two years ago,” shares Naren. The young artist who has so far exhibited internationally in London and Switzerland, is the only artist from India to be nominated for the Global Art Awards this year. Also known as the Oscars of the art world, the event will be held in November at the Burj Khalifa, Dubai.
Naren who painted a lot of landscapes and portraits in school, started exploring the nuances of abstract painting in architecture school. “Until then I hadn’t done abstract. Since I was in a boarding school in classes 11 and 12, I used it as a preparation period. During that phase, my focus on how art should be represented changed,” he shares.
Observing tiny details, including a dot from multiple dimensions, impossible and hypothetical angles was what Naren did and, it intensified when a ‘hard phase’ hit him. “I was going through some personal issues and I began reading books that dealt with psychology. That’s when I realised that art is a wonderful medium to overcome the pressure. That’s how I started painting ‘provoking abstracts’,” shares Naren.
He quips that most people don’t understand his paintings and sometimes are even frustrated trying to decipher the maze of thoughts in the painting. “But that’s what the painting represents. It could be a specific mood or emotion in which I painted it. It’s me on a canvas!” exclaims the artist, who is also the co-founder of V5 Design Studio, a company that specialises in architecture and design.
Ask him how he would describe himself and he ponders for a while, before saying, “I sometimes don’t even know if I should be called an artist. Everyone can use colours and art to represent and reflect their persona and emotions but not many do it. Sometimes I think of myself as just a person who dabbles with colours,” he shares.
Naren use a lot of different tools, mostly day-to-day objects that we see around. “The moment in which I feel like expressing my thoughts in a painting matters. So, I don’t wait around to find a paint brush. The next object I find in front of me will be put to use — say a compass, a pencil and even broken wooden pieces do the work for me at times,” he explains.
Recalling his first international exhibition in London, he says that it was ‘tragic’. “Well, I really didn’t have any idea about exhibiting my art works. Most of it was what I did for myself. But, at a point, all my emotions via the paintings started building up and haunting me. I wanted to get rid of it!” he claims.
Before he gave away his paintings, Naren wanted to exhibit them and applied for an art fair in Oxford, London but, the unimaginable happened when his visa got rejected.
“I had put so much effort into this and I was upset when I wasn’t able to go to the art fair. That’s when I decided that I will exhibit my art work in London first, before I do it anywhere else! My thoughts were reciprocated and I exhibited in another gallery in London this year,” shares Naren who is a ‘represented artist’ with Gabriel Fine Art Gallery, London.
Ask him about the nomination for the Global Art awards and he laughs. “I didn’t think I will get selected. The paintings I sent were done for a casual photoshoot. But, after I applied for nominations, I felt that I should have sent a better entry. However, I am glad that I am a finalist out of the 2,000-plus entries,” says the creative director of Inow Studio. Currently in the process of documenting the transitions of realism to abstract, Naren says that new experiences are what he looks for.
Oscars of the art world
The Global Arts Awards are the international awards for visual arts, which was created to recognise and honour the works of artists and galleries worldwide. This year’s awards will be held on November 17 at the Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai. There are 18 categories including painting, photography, street art and video. Naren Inow has been nominated as the finalist in the ‘painting art’ category.
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