Saravanan Parasurman

Sarvanan Parasuraman uses the idea of circular geometry and symbolism to create images that go back to the ethos of the mandala as the fundamental building blocks of painting: line, shape, colour, texture, and most importantly, composition. Crafting understated organic forms out of humble materials, like steel ball bearings, sand, and fiberglass, Saravanan Parasuraman produces works on canvas through which he explores lofty, philosophical themes as fate, the human condition, and the lifelong process of self-realization. Drawing upon his South Indian heritage, Parasuraman is guided by the teachings of Vedantic Hindu philosophy, concerned with the journey towards self-knowledge and the nature of reality. These images are like modern mandalas. An imagist at heart, Sarvanan has spent much of his career exploring how images can be constructed from those basic elements. His work demonstrates the essential, even inescapable reciprocity of image and pure painting in the idea of abstracted tenors of symbolism. His series of prints are like little stories, each telling their own story through a pictorial language merged with the materiality – the facticity – of paint. In the current body of work, Sarvanan revisits his understanding of experience in the circular prism of the past to tell new stories. For this series it almost as if he has repurposed previous imagery of his mandala series and recreated a crucible in which he takes elements of botanical beauty resembling petals and leaves abstracted by enlarging, cropping, and re-printing, to create a world that goes beyond existing images to create brand new ones. This amalgamation of past, present, and future compounds the narrative potential of his works, producing a complex yet legible mode of storytelling. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, 1982. He holds a BFA (2004) and a MFA (2006) from the Government College of Arts, Chennai. He was a recipient of prestigious Charles Wallace India Trust award in 2018. His select solo shows in India and abroad include 2014 “THIS TOO SHALL PASS…” MIAMI BEACH URBAN STUDIO GALLERY, Organized by- College of Architecture and the Arts, Florida International university, Miami, 2012 “WHATEVER HAS HAPPENED, HAS HAPPENED GOOD” Seven Art Ltd, New Delhi. His work has been exhibited at the India Art Fair 2011, 2012 and 2013, New Delhi. 2011 “WHAT RULES” group show at Nature Mort, Berlin, 2011“ART STAGE” Singapore, 2010 “SLICK ART FAIR” France, 2010, SCRATCH” Group Show Conducted by Sakshi Gallery, New Delhi, 2010, “THRESHOLD TO EVERYDAY-LIFE” Group show at Oriental Visart, Geneva.