Ringside View

Artist Ranjan Kaul presents his fourth solo exhibition titled Ringside View that tells the moving story of the recent traumatic times through the painter’s eye at Open Palm Court gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, from 11th to 18th November 2021.

Ranjan Kaul continues to evolve his nuanced oeuvre that chronicles and portrays humdrum situations and quotidian life by infusing them with drama, colour and emotion. He portrays real-life stories not merely as an active participant, but as an empathetic and perceptive observer, from the ringside, as it were, from a vantage point.

In this exhibition, he showcases not only the time of the pandemic, but the pre- and post-pandemic times as well. The plight of migrant labourers who trudged thousands of kilometres from the metropolis to their homes are now back, once again in search of a livelihood; he has depicted them through a series of artworks like Flight to Survival and Rootless and their life on the footpath as in Home and Supper. In his work An Arm and a Leg for a Job, migrant labourers been shown in post-pandemic times sitting vacantly in the big city, jobless, lost, defeated.

During the lockdown, cars gathered dust, salons downed their shutters. While Shine comments on the futility of the fascination with material wants such as buying new car models, Beauty draws attention to the growing obsession with the outward self. Beauty also problematizes how the real persona is morphing into a virtual, false entity with the widespread use of social media – the reflection in the mirror is the new real, while the ‘real’ is reduced to a mere shadow.

With the virus redefining physical spaces, Ringside depicts the transformation in human behaviour – with people on a short fuse, a minor road accident leading to a major skirmish while onlookers watch the incident as one would a sport. Issues related to women’s safety on deserted streets with the easing of lockdown restrictions are another concern that kindles the artist’s imagination in Twilight Zone. Holding On portrays the resilience of women in the face of tribulations. Lockdown has led to group isolation and people’s disconnection with the world outside the bubble. In Cocktail Party an evening of high-society party depicted with a palpable tension in the air, even as the people inside are unaware of being watched from the window – the work is also a comment on the increasing invasions of privacy. The post-pandemic series, ‘Fragmented’, depicted the grave fallout on the human psyche and mental health.

The curatorial advisor for the exhibition is Aakshat Sinha.