PAINTED WEAVES by SG VASUDEV

S.G. Vasudev was inspired by tapestries of works by Picasso, Braque and other artists that he saw during visits to Europe. His desire to render his own paintings and drawings in the medium of tapestry and his meeting with master weaver Subbarayalu in 1995 led to a collaborative venture that drew on each other's artistic mastery and ingenuity to create fresh, original works of art. Over the years, woven imageries of select paintings were produced using a stand loom to hold the warp and facilitate the interweaving of the weft of silk thread in selected colours (often specially dyed for the purpose), creating a pictorial harmony of form, texture and colour. Vasudev's awareness of and respect for indigenous crafts and textiles served as an impetus for revisiting traditional practices with contemporary consciousness and overcoming the inevitable challenges of such a long-term collaborative experiment spanning two decades. The present exhibition of tapestries in silk presents images from several of his series of paintings, such as Tree of Life, Maithuna, Humanscape, Earthscapes and Theatre of Life. Through this medium the artist explores the eternal synergy between art and craft, tradition and contemporaneity, man and nature, and fantasy and reality.

Dr. Pramila Lochan