Some Fables on the Unstable Oscillation of Uniformity: Abhishek Hazra

A couple of weeks ago when Aditya and I first met up, we went to see Abhishek Hazra's exhibition, Some Fables on the Unstable Oscillation of Uniformity at GallerySKE. The show was extended and I returned with Archana, her friends and visitor Ramesh Srinivasan (from UCLA). Afterwards, I'd had plans to meet Aditya and some friends of CKS. Right in the middle of the group? Abhishek! Very convenient. It was good to have the opportunity to not just see his work twice, but to ask him about it. (We also talked about Bruno Latour, Jacques Derrida, Doors of Perception--which he is involved with-- and being Bengali).

The show displayed six large scale UV prints on aluminum composite panels, as well as a sound installation with accompanying visuals, and projections of other pieces. He uses a vivid palette on many of his pieces, like my favorite, With the matrix in the car, Chitralekha drives down to all the galleries in the itinerary and displays the matrix as her only exhibit, the printing method he used made the images even more luminous--they gained something that the projections didn't provide.

Abhishek is interested in graphic design, algorithmic generation and painting as fine art. These pieces, he said in conversation, are 80% painterly and require that level of hands-on work. This is particularly interesting to me, as he plays with the boundaries of these media and methods. His work also plays with the boundary of representation and abstraction, not settling for one or the other: a pile of clothes presents a void with is it a mouth, suckers, breasts? That said, my favorite pieces are the more abstract ones. Narrative bridges these representations and abstractions, with fable and storyline guiding his work. Did the titles generate the work? How much are stories in our own heads? I didn't ask him where the fables come from or how he created them... I think I like it better that way.

Diving deep down into the river, Kujjhatika ferrets out the sturdiest pillar of the bridge.