Reality Expressed in Colours

ART REVIEW:

By Rupanjali Baruah

Born in Assam, India and coming from a family of artists and writers, it was quite natural for SamiranBaruah to be drawn towards a lifetime of aesthetic endeavours. Samiran Barua's inspiration is rooted in different sources of his visible world and more so in the spirit of this world that surround him. He says, "I think most of my paintings come from my visions, memories. In other words, my inspiration does not come from a mere conceptual idea. Reality expressed in colour explains my artwork.' And so his paintings have the smell of earth and fragrances from nature.

While reflecting upon his contemporary world, be it the social milieu or the simple fabric of a culture, he does not show them with extravagance, or while delineating grief or dejection, he adheres to its simple manifestations on his canvas. And at the same time he does not treat reality with harsh attributes. He uses colour and lines to reflect upon various possibilities in any probable situations. And this is why we discover several slices of real life situations come alive on his canvas. He seems to be seeking through his delineation of nature and human life a relevant condition while caught in the vortex of turbulent time and upheaval that he sees in every human condition. And so we see a real portrayal of nature, men, women and conflicts caught realistically in his canvas.

For the artist in him, every life experience is meaningful from which he may draw significant parallels of observations. He cares about living as well as inanimate objects. The realization of his artwork is derived through two channels - sometimes he aspires to transform everyday items into objects that generate some empathy and when he endeavors to draw the human body, he would then create an atmosphere or feeling to permeate that experience. In both cases, he explores the possibilities of color and light to create truly touching and evocative images. It is precisely in this context that SamiranBaruah loves to experiment with color, line movements that help him shape his world on his canvas. Significantly one of his paintings, 'Couple' portrays frontal view of a man and woman with a background of fresh banana leaves, a true blend of man and nature. His female figures sometimes have attributes of a misshaped entity, of one caught in the midst of trauma. His paintings are not to conceal, they are what they show.

Keshav Malik, the renowned Indian art critic observed, 'The works of SamiranBaruah from Assam is nicely personalized. In his figures floating in boats, his romantic imagery graduates to a fine mystique. It is another world. The colors in this work are compelling and a sense of space assured and a harmonious reality is confirmed. The painter in him is well earthed, the imaginative feel of his region comes out in the best of his works, without exaggeration, without bold realism."

SamiranBaruah derives inspiration from his direct observation of the outside world, he searches for significant meanings to arrive for him. Sometimes old memories come alive in his oeuvre. Therefore, instead of depending entirely on one particular explanation, he tries to offer meanings to these scenes, landscapes or situations from his own personal outlook and these give a unique independent shape to his created world.