THE SPEAKING TREE

(Exhibition by Swarnjit Savi)

Savi’s art has more to do with excavation than representation. The photographer in him does not as much focuses, crops out or narrows down as scoops out. By disinterring the human images buried in the trees, he reinstates the human in nature. His effort to search for the parallels of human patterns in the texture of trees is much like that of scientist who watches a drama of pulsating organisms in what appears a mere blob of blood to the naked eye.

In these photographs, Savi frames out bends, stems and crevices of trees to compose metaphors of human desire. Through the filter of his amazing inventiveness, human figures in trees emerge like sculptures out of stone. Not coincidentally, his compositions indicate an atavistic urge towards the erotic art of Khajuraho.

After his view-finder excavates what can be termed as `the unconscious of the trees, the painter in him imbues it with interpretation, imposing the frames with emphatic hues in primary tones of blood red, green, indigo and yellow. His digital art helps him put a surreal skin on the frames and animate the figures so that they can best be described as digital sculptures.

In Savi;s photographs, one can locate an uncanny echo of the miniature art of the 17th and 19th century, especially the Kangra one. Trees served as important props in the drama of Radha-Krishna love in these miniatures. To heighten the Sringar rasa, the artist would show two trunks of a tree coiled around each other. Savi zooms in on this stylization of miniatures to recuperate a range of emotive themes.
In this series, he not only attempts to shift the co-ordinates of his expression but also yearns to re-configure the genre of photography.


News about exhibition

Swaranjit Savi celebrates human body as an eternal song of love. His artistic world is a world of Leela - a celebration of body and beyond. He liberates human body ensconsed in the elucidations of love from the shackles of bigoted thought, tradition and indoctrination. He shatters the hegemony of mind over body. This is the reason why he gives faces no distinct identity.

Swaranjit Savi does not resort to any pre-modern art tradition. The body in his works is not depicted in any traditional Indian styles or schools of paintings. Nor does he adopt any modernistic standards, through any international style to depict human body forms.

Love is a recognition - a recognition linked with the choice of the beloved. Eroticism is that dynamic, unstable and mysterious grammar that transcends all codes and criteria of beauty and offers an introduction of the beloved person. It frees all modern and pre-modern criteria of the beauty of the beloved.
This mysterious grammar of eroticism is what Savi celebrates in his paintings.

Swaranjit Savi
Bio-data

* Born : Oct. 20, 1958, Jagraon, Ludhiana. M.A. English 1981
* Began painting as a hobby during college days.
Participated in several competitions and exhibitions.

One Man Shows:
* Held 35 shows of “Poster Poems” based on the Punjabi Poetry from Baba Sheikh Farid to contemporary poets from 1987 to 1990 throughout Punjab & Ambala. These exhibitions displayed 70 paintings done with poster colours on Paper with an extract of poems alongside.

* Three one man shows titled 'Desire' a series of 35 oil paintings:
* 20-23 Feb 1997 at Thakar Art Gallery, Amritsar. * 19-23 March 1997 at Govt. Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh * Dec. 12, 1998 to Jan. 11, 1999 at Patiala Art World, Patiala.
* 'The Quest' at IndusInd Gallery Chandigarh from
Feb. 17 to March 3, 2000.
* 'Leela' at The Mall, Ludhiana from June 2003.
'The Speaking Tree' an exhibition of photos -Academy of Arts and Literature,siri fort,New Delhi from 11-18 nov. 2005

Participation:
* Punjab Lalit Kala Academy 1990, * Art India, Ludhiana, 1991-1992.
* Art Heritage, Jalandhar, 1997, 1998

Publications :
Seven books of Poetry
* Dayrian Di Qabar Chon, 1985.
* Awaggya, 1987.
* Dard Piadey Hon Da, 1990.
* 'Dehi Naad, 1994.
* Kala Hashia Te Sooha Gulab, 1998.
* Kameshwari 1999.
* Desire (English) 1999.
* Aashram, 2005

Awards :
* Gurmukh Singh Musafir Award, Department of Languages Punjab Govt. in 1990 and 1994
* Mohan Singh Mahir Award From GND University, Amritsar, 1991
and Sant Ram Udasi Puraskar 1990

Worked as Editor-Literature and Arts, Quami Rajniti 1985-1987,
and The Mehram 1987 to 1990.
Into Designing & printing business in Ludhiana
Since 1990 artCave, Ludhiana.

Permanent Collection on display:
* Punjabi University Patiala.
* Gwendolyn C. Harrison Indiana, USA
* Dorothy Mc Mohan Indiana, USA


Studio
Artcave, 1978/2 Maharaj Nagar,
Behind Circut House, Ludhiana.
e-mail swarnjitsavi@gmail.com

 

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