Abhishek Narayan Verma
(b. 1990)
Abhishek Narayan Verma (b. Bihar,1990) did his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from College of Art, New Delhi in 2012. He went on to do his Masters in Visual Arts in Printmaking from Faculty of Fine Arts (Gold Medalist) from the M.S University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat (2015). His works revolve around the ideas of dysfunctional power relationships, socio-political conditionings and personal insecurities arising out of one’s circumstances. He tried to transmute these together in his artworks through satire, with reference to popular idioms, myths and stories. According to Verma, childhood fantasies and moral stories create heroes of our life and those heroes become ideal figures we look forward to. Growing up in this practical world with demolition of socio-cultural status the definition of “Hero” for me changed, he says. Verma’s works are a reaction to the disturbances which are around because of the sense of violation that grew in him. We are constantly made aware of many unexpected demands and consequences. The changing environment pushes us to take up a new identity or reform ourselves. Discomfort leads us to care for belongings, desire to achieve and overcome, so we act in a certain way. That is but only a façade of aspired power and pleasure in a moment of anxiety, Verma says contemplating about his art. This series of events breeds conflict in our everyday existence, between rational and irrational. Through this experience Verma creates images as a dialogue with the various situations. It is not about romanticising the situation and creating fantasy rather raising questions about the clashes, says Verma. In his words: The irony is a provocation of thoughts that uses humour to portray struggles and mistakes, it also helps us to destabilise and transform the power structures of the authority.
He lives and works in Vadodra, Gujarat.
