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The Quest - 1

by Viveek Sharma
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Details

Size: 54 x 54 inches
Medium: Oil on Linen Canvas
Year: 2023

  • ABOUT Viveek Sharma

    Born in Mumbai in 1968, Viveek Sharma is an internationally active artist known for his intense photorealistic paintings. He received his BFA from Sir J. J. School of Art in 1994, and has completed residencies in Germany and Switzerland, which have granted him the opportunity to study and work in a culturally diverse context, as well as get inspired by some of the European masters. Viveek’s work has been exhibited extensively in various Indian metros and international galleries in Germany, Switzerland, France, and the USA, and his paintings are held in important private and corporate collections within India and overseas. 
    The exceptional quality of Viveek’s brushstrokes, the stunning depth of his compositions, and his often-symbolic references, convey a unique feeling of contemplation. In his work, which is mostly oil on canvas, we see an aspect of superrealism that gives into the absurd and magical. Viveek studies obscure expressions and complexity of feeling through the rhythm of his brush, using a meditative and intricate repetition of the pointillist technique to create patterns of light and shade, hue and colour for the eyes to behold.
    The central subject of Viveek Sharma’s main body of work are ascetics or sadhus - those who choose the path of austerity and sacrifice of life’s luxuries, in search of the ultimate release from the cyclic binding of earthly life. Depicted as profound portraits, as well as being in acts of devotion, the protagonists are both familiar and alien. They symbolize a world separated from the mundane bustle of everyday urban existence. Yet, seen through the lens of cultural consciousness, they are distinctive forms that make themselves apparent in the subcontinent’s spirituality. The portraits capture a variety of emotional essences and subtle energies - the gaze in each case is different, some averted, and others directly engage the viewer. The skins, once youthful and unwrinkled, now carry ritualistic marks of the ascetic - ash and sandalwood, with lime and bright red powders, illuminating the third eye on the forehead. The tones in his paintings are blended to evoke consciousness of certain psychologically representative colours - saffron and green, vermillion, white and calm blue.
    The sadhus are symbols of silent reflection in a world of conflict and tension. Their presence sustains the belief that sacred spaces and prayer can offer something beyond the mechanical grind of everyday life.

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