LETS PAINT HIS FACE BLACK

I had given much thought to this painting on greed, power, scams, bribery and corruption, well before Independence Day, and much before Anna Hazare took centre stage. In fact, I put the idea to face the criticism of friends and people I met. I was supported by some like Rasik Sahani, B. Chandrashekhar IAS, Neeraj & Renu Singhal,Tamanna, Manisha and many others. Planning and research went on for days. Gandhi ji’s sketch was practiced and changed many times.

LET’S PAINT HIS FACE BLACK

The 4 X 3’ acrylic alla prima on canvas, ‘Lets Paint His Face Black’ is, at first glance, meant to stun the senses. Shock is my first aim in doing a title like this with the face of the Mahatma spread large on the support.

Who dare to paint his face black?!

Dare? We have dared, we the People – or at least so many of us – with our shameless acts of greed, power, scams, bribery and corruption.

Yes, it is only when we continue to read the lines at the bottom left hand corner, that our tempers are ready to cool, hang down our heads in shame and accept the fact that we have blackened his face with our selfishness, greed and pure disregard for the future of the Nation.

The backdrop of the picture is the national colours – the backdrop of our national pride or whatever is left of it! With such a backdrop there is no negative space available in the picture!

Gandhi ji is in caricature – the joke we have made out of him.

The style is graffiti; the writing on the wall!

The three demonic faces are not the masks we wear; rather, our own faces are the masks of the degraded souls underneath. Our smiles and our guiles only a cover up; masks for the monsters of corruption we have become and that we are!

Hints of Khadi, the white patches below the faces and a hardly noticeable gandhi-topee add to how we show ourselves as whited sepulchres to people and the public.

The allegory is not aimed at any particular political party, group or persons. It’s just ‘We the People…’!

The artist in all humility accepts his share in the responsibility of owning up to all the chaos around us.

The bottom line is, “Lets NOT paint his face black.”