Art comes alive

Wondering how does something on a canvas come to life? Artist Ranbir Kaleka says, “When you look at someone in a painting, and then in movement, the painting stops being a painting, and the video stops being a video. It becomes a third thing.”

Wondering how does something on a canvas come to life? Artist Ranbir Kaleka says, “When you look at someone in a painting, and then in movement, the painting stops being a painting, and the video stops being a video. It becomes a third thing.” It is that third thing which reverberates through Kaleka’s solo exhibition, Fables, at the Saffronart Gallery in the Oberoi Hotel.

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Kaleka combines images on canvas with video projections to create a third visual experience. One of the works, Fables from the House of Ibaan, depicts businessman Naveen Ansal and his family. The artwork shows a man, a woman and their story painted on the canvas, wherein the changing colours create an effect that renders the painting a life-like appearance.

Canvas

"An NGO, Khushi, wanted artists to work with celebrities. I spent some time working with Naveen (Ansal) and Raseel (his wife). I decided to paint a metaphorical version of the story they had told me," says Kaleka.

“I have combined the two.” The exhibition comprises five works — three still moving images (video projections on canvas) and two digital prints on canvas.

A striking digital print on canvas is Conference of Birds and Beasts. Made during the Commonwealth games, it depicts the plight of the city-broken flyovers and an unfinished stadium. “A book by Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar called The Conference of, which is about self-searching, is one of the inspiration for this artwork,” says the artist.