Shapes of the Continuity: by S D Hariprasad

In Vedanta there is a reference to Rina Triya--the triad of obligations.It elucidates that any civil society is obliged to inherit the values of its culture and tradition fromancestors, preserve and build upon these for their furtherance and then pass these on to the posteriety. Realising and practicing the principles such as the one stated above has perhaps been the reason for India to be one of the oldest continuous civilizations. Looking at the phenomenon from the point of view of human perception also one understands that a society's grasp of its past becomes a reason for creativity in the present. It stimulates all forms of contemporary expression allowing the meaning to seep through images, shapes and a plethora of other cultural activities.

While looking at this phenomenon of past and present as a continuum where lines of distinction between historical memories and personal experiences blur if not disappear, we realise an eternal source of knowledge within ourselves .A  source which energises us to flow on and to be a part and parcel of this continuum.
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.....and now, As we look around and try to assess the 'phenomenon' of sculpture happening around we understand that from the latter half of the previous century onwards we come across a wide variety of experimentation viz a viz the material, the form and even the theorising and conceptualisation  pertaining to sculpture.This shift towards some meaningful experimentation may generally be attributed to an eternally curious and intrinsically innovative nature of artists in general and that of sculptors in particular. By virtue of the nature of their work along with a self decided freedom to conceptualise and execute the same ,sculptors have been reasonably successful to impart to their work the characteristics of an innate intelligence, wit, humour and thought or all together as we may call it an 'aesthetic persona'. ...In much simpler words 'the reality a work of art needs to attain'. This reality  generally  is subject to a language which artists coin to suit their perpetually changing personality  and the requirements of the particular times.However yet, what seems to be a constant  is that the said reality is some total of what an artist sees,reacts to, remembers, thinks about ,perceives and then together externalises these aspects as a concrete manifestation. The whole process which may also be called as the process of creativity needs time ---a period of gestation to arrive at a state of independence that in turn imparts enough visual and formal strength to what is created. The strength that simultaneously decides the continuity and the contemporaneity of a work of art......enduring,outright, endearing.

As a sculptor as we know S.D.Hariprasad, comes from a family of Sathapatisand as such  from his early days he delved into various techniques of stone sculpture, image making  and the temple building. Later On as he enrolled himself for a regular academic training in sculpture he followed and practiced a strict academic discipline and as such his earlier works involved his attempts to explore some 'out right and endearing' possibilities in figuration, a like of which one would generally not come across  in the area of contemporary stone sculpture. I use the term  'outright and endearing ' to indicate the technical finesse with which he dealt with his material  in terms of retaining  and evenenhancing the surface quality of his massive stones. The appropriate dynamics of his figures, the balances and movements of his creative and free forms and so on  worked symbiotically  to work a carrier for a voyage through some well known and some absolutely unknown recesses of human nature.Consequently he developed a visual and formal language that would speak of his engagement with his surroundings , with any and everything local  and through that certainly the entirety of relationship and life.

.....shapes of the continuity.

In light of the aforementioned context,'Shapes of the Continuity 'the latest ensemble of S.D.Hariprasad's 'machine executed works' in different  types of stone must have had various and intense reasons to become. For example the artist's inherent desire to experiment with his material and try to surpass its limitations and as such his own ...His yearning to thus transit into an area  where he possibly meets his enhanced aspirational space.......where his material forms a clearly perceptible 'congealed continuity'.

The joy and satisfaction of innovation by creating forms which though are simple and 'matter of fact 'but still stand for a different and deeper truth as some potent signs or even the symbols which more often than not represent the concept of time as continuous progression of our changing existence that occurs in  an apparently irreversible succession from the past through present.

.....geometry and metaphysics,

Let us also not forget that there is an intense relationship between geometry and metaphysics.This relationship through centuries has enabled us to draw diagrams or make shapes as would be seemingly so simple and yet loaded with content and the possibility of connotation. Traditionally also while trying to understand the nature of  art we readily accept to go along the route of  natural human characteristics, behaviours and their metaphysical implications.No matter 'shapes of the continuity' in form and concept activate our basic instincts viz a viz the continuity of time,and through that as to how we think ,feel , behave and take a holistic approach to our experiences and  the interconnectedness of thoughts.Consequently we feel as coming closer to aspects of  the eternal, the universal and immortal at one and the same time. It  is somewhat  like a magical function that enhances in us a feeling for a closed system of meanings similar to that in the mind of the artist during actual transition of thought into a particular and perceptible form. Such simultaneous involvement at various levels at times diffuses the distinction between the real outside and the ideal in mind. At this particular level what inspires an artist may not matter really. In any case the end product or the so called work of art attains a reality unto itself. That is what we broadly see in 'the shapes of continuity''

What matters further is the working virtuosity of S.D.Hariprasad. As Geeta Kapur puts it - is an artist's method to abbreviate,upturn or reanimate the signs.With the orientals it has been the central principle of aesthetics and art production . As compared to other cultures our sign system is more explicit  and as such every intervention sparkles........!