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Promising
Artist Award 2005 (Catalogue)
“Every man’s
memory is his private literature.”
~
Aldous Leonard Huxley.
A recurring leitmotif in George
Martin’s visual language, memory becomes the muse for his image imaging. A boy
from the small town of Angamaly, near Cochin, George Martin has inhaled the
charm of small town upbringing, rich in a unique language and culture. He has
moved from Trivandrum to Kolkatta, in pursuit of his formal training in Art.
Finally coming to roost in the vibrant, complex, city of migrants New Delhi. In
this process, yet another dimension was added to his visual language.
In 2005, George won the
prestigious Art India and the India Habitat Award for the Most Promising Artist,
that George Martin at an incredibly young age got an opportunity to create for
the sake of creativity along.
For one long year Martin was
hardly seen in the newly buoyant market of contemporary art. And when he emerged
with his solo show at the Visual Arts Gallery of the India Habitat Centre in May
2007 - artists, collectors, art lovers came in droves to see the paintings and
sculptures created by George Martin in this period of hiatus from the art world.
George Martin created a sensation
with the large almost phantasmorghial, refractive, fading in and fading out
images soaked in colour. A riot, a mutiny of colours confronted the viewer at
close quarters, but while moving away from the canvas, shapes, forms,
compositions, landscapes emerged almost like the magical realism of Gabriel
Garcia, a writer he loves.
Refractive, as if captured
through the concave and convex lens of the human eye or that moment caught in
the in between spaces of refraction. The paintings almost explode with the
intensity of colour. With the unaffected social, religious or moral norms that
exist, his works bring to light the solitary confinement by recalling moments
that were memorable, yet mysterious. The paintings reflect George Martin’s
confrontation with urban life, with a life which has been in some ways corroded
by globalisation. From bandwallah’s to rickshaw pullers in an urban
setting, the constant to and fro in his mindspace, from his small time village
to the big city he lives in is constantly questioned. A highly refined eye, a
mind that is constantly in search, a spirit which is looking at the multiple
identities within his body, George Martin is navigating an extremely lush
landscape.
From the cinema he saw in the
film clubs in Kerala and the libraries he raided as a young child emerges a
powerful narrative which is so global and cosmopolitan, and yet the inherent
‘Indian’ colour palette is celebrated with a rare sophistication and the
headrush of colours.
It is a nostalgia of ethos,
events, constantly digging into the abundant reservoir of moments in time and
space. It is not calm. There is a constant movement and bustle, rhythmic strokes
that are symbolic of the city dwellers.
Permanently shifting to Delhi has
bought about a new side to migration, not just geographically but also in a way
of life. His thoughts and ideas express the notion of passage, pointing towards
the historical resistance to the fixed customs and traditions that are
figurative of the native land. It is a dual perspective, more like
‘give-and-take’ of cultural exchange.
“A cloud does not know why it
moves in just such a direction and at such a speed...It feels an
impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the
patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high
enough to see beyond horizons.”
~ Richard Bach
If the artist draw their
inspiration from other art, there would be in a constant spiral of thoughts and
stagnation. George Martin’s world is highly open and is formed by the world of
films and literature, which play a major role in his artistic sculptures and
paintings.
Bringing his inspiration from the
Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, who works under an artistic doctrine by
incorporating direct cinema into the narrative as a way of conveying realism and
highlighting the many contemporary social issues, within the limited creative
freedom of the Poland. Just like the noted filmmaker, there is an inner passion
to reflect a universal truth on the nature of human existence. There is a need
for a personal balance and the inextinguishable human pursuit for enlightenment.
As quoted by Zanussi, “Going
against the wall: I realized that I would have to fight for my films — to defend
my artistic freedom.”
Deriving inspiration from
Zanussi’s cinematic expression, George Martin too evolves a translucent role
play. Contrasts, illusions abound in the paintings. Another trajectory of his
work can also be decoded through reading the captions he places for his works be
they sculptures or paintings. The captions by itself are self-explanatory and
capture the complexity of his works. The four sculptures and the sixteen
paintings all reflect his present engagement.
What makes George’s language
truly global, international and cosmopolitan, is the range of references in
literature and visual expression. From Pieter Bruegel in ‘Blind leads Blind’ to
the Italian metaphysical artist Georgio de Chirico to ‘Drizzling Memory’,
‘Uncertainty of the Poet’ and the ‘Concave Breath’ which belong to his
autobiographical text. ‘Drizzling Memory’ taking him back to the fascination
with his father’s bed in his ancestral house in Angamaly and ‘Concave Breath’
which becomes a cathartic experience when he encounters the urban chaos and
pressures of trying to find a home and an identity in a metropolis.
Through the process of creating
these works, George Martin seeks a meaning and an identity within his own past
and at the same time, endeavours to make sense of the ambiguities and
contradictions of present-day culture. The paintings and sculptures have come
about from an ongoing study on how personal and cultural meanings are formed and
expressed, on how there is an interesting parallel between the two.
Dr.
Alka Pande
Curator
Summer 2007
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