Roar Like a Paintbrush
14th - 20th February 2016
Udaipur City Palace Gallery, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
'Roar Like a Paintbrush' is a set of paintings based on the Palace's collection of 19th century photographs of British political agents and residents. The title evokes the idea that Art has a place in power and identity politics, and that the tiny whiskers of a minitaurist's paintbrush can be as mighty as the sword.
'Looking at the main collection I was intrigued by the full-scale over-painting of sepia photographs by artists to enhance the true likeness of the images, sometimes resulting in the photographs losing their photographic quality and looking purely like paintings. I observed that the British officer collection had also been touched up with paint by artists - given pointy moustaches, painted eyelids, finely drawn hair. It gave the officers a slightly Indian appearance. I wonder why they were not coloured in. The paintings are quite abstracted from the original sources, beginning with sketching and experiment and often going through many changes as I find what interest me in each different face. I use a Mughul palette of colours to draw out the idea that the British who stayed often became 'Indianised'.
Udaipur City Palace Gallery, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
'Roar Like a Paintbrush' is a set of paintings based on the Palace's collection of 19th century photographs of British political agents and residents. The title evokes the idea that Art has a place in power and identity politics, and that the tiny whiskers of a minitaurist's paintbrush can be as mighty as the sword.
'Looking at the main collection I was intrigued by the full-scale over-painting of sepia photographs by artists to enhance the true likeness of the images, sometimes resulting in the photographs losing their photographic quality and looking purely like paintings. I observed that the British officer collection had also been touched up with paint by artists - given pointy moustaches, painted eyelids, finely drawn hair. It gave the officers a slightly Indian appearance. I wonder why they were not coloured in. The paintings are quite abstracted from the original sources, beginning with sketching and experiment and often going through many changes as I find what interest me in each different face. I use a Mughul palette of colours to draw out the idea that the British who stayed often became 'Indianised'.
