Human form in many colours

Bhubaneswar-based artist Chandra Sekhar Sethi, who is currently working on a series on Life and Human Character, engages the viewer through his figurative and surreal style. He offers bizarre, fantastic and hybrid forms that have the power to communicate his narrative. He makes these images a metaphor to convey certain emotions. Some of his recent pieces on the evolution of man series get a figure between a man and an ape. The use of bold shades like violet, blue, yellow, red, in the background appealingly brightens the canvasses. His work is complex but his style of overlapping bright shades in parallel is what makes the paintings unique. A colourist by impulse, form is the fundamental element in his work.In one of his works titled The Last Touch, he deals with the connection between a man and the God. While a primitve man is the central character, the painting again is a celebration of structure and form.Similarly his painting Dream makes an interesting art piece as it shows human being’s lust for peace and tranquility. These creations were recently displayed at an art exhibition titled Chitrangshi at the Orissa Modern Art Gallery (OMAG). In his oeuvre, Sethi likes to play with the colours first and then gives them the shape of his dreams. Explaining his work, Sethi says: “It is a kind of metaphysical work that connects Earth with a human figure and elements of nature. In art there is no direct meaning or statement. One has to extract a meaning or experience something. In my work too there is no statement. A work grows with the viewer. I may mean something but an art lover might perceive it differently. Art work must reflect an artist’s time and space.”“The passion for shapes and colours is a driving force in my life. It is a life-long learning process,” says a self taught Sethi who is presently a faculty member at the B K College of Art and Craft and a guest faculty with the Utkal University of Culture.