Artist Haren Vakil : A 70 year old NRI painter
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Author :Nandini Viswanathan
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Artist Haren Vakil : A 70 year old NRI painter cloaks Indian pop, calendar art with surrealism...
There is an order in chaos and what seems to lack reason contains logic of its own. This describes Haren Vakil's paintings and drawings. One is so used to conventional reflexes when it comes to seeing, hearing and reasoning that everyday absurdities seem reasonable. For instance, how would one explain the actions of some Mumbaikars who regularly cross the railway tracks at a risk to their life instead of using the footbridge? There's an absurd need to save time rather than one's life.
Vakil does set out to hold a mirror to any particular instances of incongruity or life itself. He's an artist-artist. Unlike his young contemporaries, for him the act of painting is not a political action. He makes art for the pleasure of its process and the unplanned result. This passion started in childhood when his extensive doodling was encouraged by his parents and a good artist-teacher. It would be appropriate to say that he paints, and life spontaneously seeps into his imagery. The compositions encompass concrete structures, birds and animals of his whimsical imagination and hybrid people with oval faces and animal legs. While the scenes are not realistic they are inspired by his everyday activities, East and West cultures, his favourite music Jazz and much more.
The elements from various strands of life come together in an orderly fashion in his noticeably structured compositions. The lines, the colors, the balance of elements suggest how Vakil manages with ease the madness of events and a crowd of things. His visual language has been shaped by his years in architectural planning and draftsmanship that have binding rules and restrictions unlike art practices. Also, one is reminded of surrealists Rene Magritte's handling of objects and human figures, and Giorgio de Chirico's treatment of city structures. The Surrealist influences are just one of the aspects informing Vakil's works. He employs wit and humour in the treatment of his subject. One sees an affiliation between Vakil's imagery and American Native Art especially in the way he makes facial features and postures. Much of his surreal imagery obliquely owes to Indian pop culture, calendar art and street life even though he has been living in Canada for more than 35 years. One sees a balance of restraint and freedom. And for these reasons it is inappropriate to categorise his work to any genre or region.
Vakil's works have a buzzing presence. The diverse details in his works are akin to our lives which come together cohesively with their own absurd logic.
Haren Vakil - A capsule bio :
Haren Vakil was born in Mumbai, India on April 15, 1940. He holds a degree in Architecture as well as a Post Graduate Diploma from the Victoria College of Art, Victoria, B.C., Canada. Haren worked as an architect and urban designer in India and the Netherlands. In 1973, he came to Canada to pursue graduate studies at the University of British Columbia. Since then he has worked as an urban designer with various Vancouver and Victoria firms. He lives in Victoria and has been painting and drawing since the last 15 years. He has exhibited his work in several juried and group shows in local galleries and has had solo exhibitions in Victoria, B.C., and Mumbai, India. A number of his works are in private collections in Canada, the United States, Europe and India.
Artist Statement :
"My work is rooted in the surreal and the fantastic. It is influenced by my background in architecture, my interest in music, especially jazz, and my experience of various cultures, East and West. My intent is to produce images which evoke wonder, surprise and amusement."
Solo Exhibits :
2009 Winchester Gallery, Victoria BC
2008 Stretching the Line, Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai, India
2005 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai India
2003 Frans Willis Gallery, Victoria, BC
2001 Gallery 1248, Victoria, BC
2000 Artist Centre Gallery, Mumbai, India
Gallery 1248, Victoria, BC
1999 Gallery 1248, Victoria, BC
1998 Winchester Gallery, Victoria BC
Arch Gallery, Victoria, BC
Group Exhibits :
2010 The Art of Luck: CARD-O-LOGY II, Samsara Art, Mumbai India
2009 CARD-O-LOGY, Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai, India
2002- '09 Moss Street Paint-in, by invitation from the Art Gallery of Greater Victiria, Victoria, BC
2006 Noah's Ark, Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai, India
2004 Island Illustrators Society New Years show, St. Ann's Academy, Victoria, BC
Island Illustrators Society spring show, Saanich Municipal Hall, Victoria, BC
2003 Island Illustrators Society annual show, Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.
New Years show, Fran Willis Gallery, Victoria, B.C
2002 Fran Willis Gallery, summer show, Victoria, B.C.
Island Illustrators Society, annual spring show, Saanich Municipal Hall, Victoria, BC
Fran Willis Gallery, Christmas show, Victoria, B.C
Island Illustrators Society New Years show, Royal B.C. Museum, Victoria, BC
2001 Summer show, Gallery 1248, Victoria, B.C.
Gallery 1248, Visual Presentations, Victoria, B.C
1999 McPherson Library and Maltwood Gallery, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C
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