Shibu Natesan: External Affairs

About

Grosvenor Vadehra is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by leading Indian painter Shibu Natesan, his second solo exhibition with the gallery. Shibu Natesan creates smoothly rendered paintings with an exacting technique and almost flawless finish. Whilst his subject matter is of our world, he goes beyond simple representation, exploring a detached, surreal, dream-like quality by creating large scale canvases in which disassociated subjects and symbols are juxtaposed. In this exhibition the emerging theme is that of the shifting relationship between man and nature. A suburban housing block is dwarfed behind a tangle of foxgloves; an abandoned restaurant is overrun by tropical fish. In one painting we see a jogger running towards us through a dense tangle of flowers, his face and body contorted by his efforts, which are overwhelmed by the lazy, whimsical growth of the flowers which dominate the large canvas. Natesan highlights the struggle of modern man and his structured disciplines with the unregulated forces of nature.