B Vengatesan

When they say imagination takes you everywhere, they mean imagination opens windows to an alternate world of fantasy, of hybrid forms that coexist with other mythical forms. That’s what B Vengatesan paintings depict: fantasy. After a trip to Saravanabelgola and Benares, he realized that there is another world with diverse ethnicity, pilgrims and chaos. He explored this experience and the complexities of life through metaphors and various symbols. He believes in ‘pretty pictures’, yet each of us has our own perception of what constitutes ‘pretty’. As a traveller and believer in solitude, his definition of pretty is very obscure as opposed to the mainstream.

“My canvases are evocative and gestural. You’ll find raw paint strokes and a lot of symbols. I always consider a painting as a window that allows someone to look into something that’s not part of their surroundings. Hence, you’ll always find one or two figures occupying vantage positions with many little details around them. I try not to diminish the iconic quality of the protagonists but to enhance it with these little details. I’ve always had a fascination for the unknown which is why you’ll find very disquieting and hybrid creatures strewn in my paintings. For me, religion and the metaphysical world overlap and coexist in a way that I perceive them to be one.”

To see artworks by B Vengatesan, click here