Pallav Chander’s art to feature in month-long virtual exhibition

The unified imagery within his work are his personal, subjective perceptions of society, rather than a judgement or a commentary.

New Delhi: An ongoing online exhibition showing works by upcoming Delhi-based contemporary artist Pallav Chander proves to be an anthology of varied themes, taking viewers through the young artist’s oeuvre from the comfort of their homes.

Presented as the debut online art exhibition of APRE Art House — a contemporary art space founded by Prerna Jain, who is also the exhibition’s curator – the exhibition is titled “The Organisation of Chaos in the Works of Pallav Chander”. The month-long exhibition can be accessed in the APRE Art House’s viewing room on their website. It is co-curated by Ashwariya Khemka.

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Chander completed his BFA from Birmingham City University in the UK. He is the recipient of the 2019 Junior Fellowship by the Indian Ministry of Culture.

His art is a visual representation of his autobiography. His works concisely encapsulate his intense experiences with dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADHD through chaotic arrangements and bold abstract expressionism. The unified imagery within his work are his personal, subjective perceptions of society, rather than a judgement or a commentary.

He prefers keeping his works open to interpretation, allowing the audience to read into them as they desire, so as to avoid reducing the artworks to a singular meaning.

“The Organisation of Chaos” has been curated to tell a tale, beginning with chapter one where the artist pays tribute to his home. Through the chapters, we move through emotions such as grief and greed towards chapter four wherein the artist critiques society through his style of abstraction.

Chander’s background and interest in theatre is evident in his artworks, wherein he treats his canvas like an extension of his stage by painting layers upon layers. He heavily draws his inspiration from Van Gogh and his core value of painting every day.

His works evoke deeply felt, raw emotional experiences that are then transformed into a visual form. Through the works, the artist pulls us into his memories and forces us to connect to our inner disquiet and angst.

The idea behind the exhibition is to depict more clearly how the artist is visible in their art. Chander is most inspired by Van Gogh and a commonality in their works was this very fact. The artist becomes not only the creator of their artwork but an artwork himself.

According to curator Prerna Jain, “Pallav Chander’s works carefully record his intense experiences, the resulting works are these bright, vivid colours and chaotic motifs that reflect his raw emotional memories and feelings. The visual form of his autobiographical experiences is very emotive, and that is what we are trying to show through our exhibition. The presence of the artist can be clearly felt and seen in his works. They are a subjective observation of society born out of his many experiences from grappling with learning disabilities to personal losses to his early, intimate artistic influences. The language of his work is quite unique and as a gallery we are very pleased to showcase his visual diary.”

“The works displayed in the show reflect my experiences of observing the society with a touch of satire. The subjects vary from a generalised views of different psychological aspects to my own personal experience of understanding society,” Chander told IANSlife.

Among other shows, Chander has had two solo shows, “Decoding A Dyslexic Mind” at Visual Art Gallery, Delhi and “Life Must Have Its Mysteries” at Art4All Gallery, Delhi