Tsuktiben Jamir
Born in Trivandrum, Kerala in the year 1966, Shibu Nateson is of the generation of Kerala artists who attended the College of Fine Arts in Trivandrum in the early 1980s, a period of ongoing transformation and resistance to a bureaucratic and stultified art system. His father, who was a painter himself, served as his earliest source of artistic inspiration. Shibu later went on to earn his Master’s degree in Printmaking from MS University in Vadodara.
Saffronart in Mumbai will be hosting an exhibition dedicated to Shibu Nateson and his art from 12th May- 3rd June 2023 titled ‘Shibu Natesan: Plein Air Views of India and London.’ It will be an exhibition of contemporary landscape paintings by Shibu Natesan, inspired by locales in India and London, and is being presented by Saffronart in collaboration with Grosvenor Gallery in London. The exhibition will be held at the Grosvenor Gallery in London and at Saffronart in Mumbai.
The exhibition will feature a series of landscape paintings that he painted during his travels; the landscape paintings have been specifically inspired by the rich lands of India and London. His idyll is the scenery. The intrepid traveller Natesan is a lover of the outdoors. His love for geographic characteristics and relief elements runs inside him like an everlasting pulse no matter wherever he is in the world. Shibu Nateson has a knack for capturing the beautiful landscapes he comes across by transferring them onto the canvas.
His first notable piece of work, a collection of paintings titled “The Futility of Device,” is based on a feudal past that was painstakingly unearthed; the artefacts were then presented in the gloomy chambers of memory as emblems of hostility that recurred with oppressive regularity. The use of metallic paint on canvas enhances the atmospheric atmosphere of these pieces, some of which are based on images of ancient ruins such as the caves at Ajanta.
Shibu Nateson told Uma Nair, “No matter where I was in the world, I would step outside with my paints and materials and paint as if I were touched by a force that gave me an inner realization of the reason for living. There was no one else around. Just the cold wind or warm breeze, the empty landscape and me. Suddenly it was an awakening of all that lies within me and the confluence of the outside and inside being one. Inspired by the French painters of Barbizon, I am a plein air painter and the visions of landscape painting help me talk to my present, and also shows me how to really listen to the land I’m looking at and absorbing in all its beauty and wholesome details, anywhere in the world.”
Nateson has participated in several solo and group exhibits both domestically and internationally. A few of his solo shows include “Existence of Instinct,” held in New Delhi in 2005; “Linkage,” held in Amsterdam in 2001 and 1997; “Paintings,” held in Bangalore in 2002; “Missing,” held in Mumbai in 1999; “Nature Morte,” held in New Delhi in 1997; and “Futility of Device,” shown in Mumbai in 1995.
Shibu Nateson: Plein Air Views of India and London
12th May- 3rd June 2023
Exhibitions at Mumbai and London
