09 March,2010 07:54 AM IST | | Swati Kumari
Greed, consumerism and the unnecessary hype surrounding homosexuality is what got painter Dharmendra Rathore going
Like everyone else, Dharmendra Rathore, too, believes there is a woman behind every successful manu00a0-- in his case, his mother. It is this belief in the female form that he tries to portray through his paintings and fibreglass sculptures in the seriesu00a0 he calls Transit Lotus. Rathore has used popular icons from the world of fashion, and created linkages between the spirituality of the past and materialism of the present to draw an interconnected microcosm of major issues.
Titled Beautiful Body, this work depicts homosexuality and mockery
Eco honours
The show highlights, in collages of brightly coloured faces, flora, fauna and materials, the various issues that surround human existenceu00a0-- consumerism, homosexuality, human greed, wildlife conservation and search for spirituality. "It is the social responsibility of artists to raise political and social issues. I have tried to give a strong message on current issues like economic meltdown, homosexuality, fashion et al," says the 40-year-old. "Like world news is condensed in a minute, I deem that a painting is adequate to display different issues," adds Rathore. His attempts to identify the effect of contemporary forms, and place them within his visual dialogue, are noteworthy for their honesty and fearless representation.
Sexual sensitivity
Rathore moves away from his previous set of works where he mediated the aspects of spiritual aestheticism through the images of a meditating Buddha. "But there is a new Buddha present in this series, too, where I have transformed the meditating hermit into a landscape of alluring contemporary images," he says ofu00a0 the series, which took him three-and-a-half years to conceptualise.u00a0
One of this works is a collaged human being; while this human being is a symbol of present day's life, Rathore does not dismiss contemporary life completely. For instance, his work titled Boneless Hand shows an outstretched palm in a mockery of human gestures, "not realising that the beauty of our traditional mudras has got lost in the overdose of superficial human posturing."u00a0 Yet, on one of the fingers sits a pretty butterflyu00a0-- a symbol of the lingering sensitivity that hopes to revitalise itself.u00a0
Similarly, through Beautiful Body, he uses decorative imagery to question the relevance of taking homosexuality to the streets. "I have also talked about the pink community. I am not for or against the issue, but homosexuality is a personal issue for a personu00a0-- what's happening in their bedroom should be of no one's concern. We should give them their own space," he asserts.
The show also marks Rathore's debut in sculptural installations. Made in fibre-glass, seven sculptures depict human-nature relationship u00e2u0080u0093 both audacious and beautiful.
