Keeping Renaissance art alive

By Puja Gupta

New Delhi, July 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Fine arts photographer Sanjeev Verma draws inspiration from master painters like Rembrandt, Leonardo Da Vinci Caravaggio, Vermeer, and Velazquez to keep Renaissance art alive.

"Whether I make a series of images or a standalone one, the objective always is for the image to hold a conversation with the viewer about the emotions in their heart. Realism, for me, makes the conversations easier and intimate," says Verma who has been practicing this art form for over a decade now.

In a free-wheeling chat with IANSlife, Verma shares more about his work, his motivation and art during the times of COVID-19. Read excerpts:

Why do you call yourself a weekend artist?

Verma: Theater and acting were my first love. I never really lost touch with that side even when I took my first job 25 years ago. I devoted every possible weekend into learning the craft of acting, performing on stage and experimenting with different forms of theater. I would be performing for four back-to-back shows over a weekend and would be exhausted. But come Monday and I would be back in full flow at work. I started realising that all the innovative ideas I was getting at work, all the recognition I got for being creative and composed in my job, was the byproduct of those weekends spent on the stage.

It was one innocent remark from a photographer friend that inspired me to pick up my first camera in 2009. I saw myself as a storyteller after all these years of theater. So I was not very keen on still photography. But my friend asked me to take it as a challenge to tell a story in a single still shot. So, my next 520 weekends were spent in learning the craft of photography, searching for stores to shoot, looking at the works of other great artists and creating my own stories using my lenses and lights.

What school of thought do you follow while you photograph and work on a series?

Verma: Storytelling is at the heart of every series I create. I am heavily influenced by the traditional form of art and artists, especially those from the renaissance era. In the modern world, realism is not rated highly in the art circles, but I believe that art work with real people and real environments makes it much easier to relate to as a viewer. So, I am completely drawn into realism as an art form.

Philosophical messages are often the subject of my photographic stories. It gives me freedom to choose any character from the literary world or mythology or even history and mix my own figments of imagination into the story. With the subject and character in the bag, the next big task is to decide what shows up on my canvas, the visual elements. These ideas then dictate the location, the wardrobe, the lighting and the editing choices I will be making to create that final image.

Whether I make a series of images or a standalone one, the objective always is for the image to hold a conversation with the viewer about the emotions in their heart. Realism, for me, makes the conversations easier and intimate.

Can you shed some light on your latest work?

Verma: Recently, I have been engaged in a mix of commercial as well as fine art images. My commercial work, which includes portraiture, media promotion and other story based pictures, is laced with the same styling, lighting and colour choices as that of my fine art work.

Developing a story is always the most fascinating part of my work. One of my recent shoots was on the subject of dealing with the loss of a loved one and finding that faith within. I was looking for a character who is associated with death and faith together and not in a dark way. Struggling for a few days, I stumbled upon this character while walking on a road ... hiding in plain sight. Yes, Jesus. But, I did not want to show Jesus in his bodily form as it has been done in many artworks before.

The people who loved him and had to deal with his death and struggled with faith were his disciples. So, I weaved this story around a disciple from the anecdotes and what journey would she have taken in dealing with the death of Jesus. I shot this as a series of five pictures and showed the death of Jesus symbolically with a broken cross. The series of pictures shows the disciple going from a state of disbelief, to mourning, to trying to revive the departed soul and then finally feeling their presence in her heart.

A very similar approach will be taken for an upcoming project which is about discovering "Meera Consciousness" within us.

Could you elaborate on your fine art approach to photography?

Verma: Fine art is a very broad term and it could mean different things to different people. At a very high level, fine art is an indirect or a tangential communication of an emotion (or a story) using any medium or format to a specific audience.

For me, curating a story is at the heart of my photography. I do belong to the school of Realism and traditional realistic paintings. Works of Raphael, Vermeer, Rubens, Gerrit Dou and Rembrandt inspire me endless.

I am not "capturing the moment" kind of a photographer, I am more of a "curating the moment" artist. It is important for me that my audience is able to hold an intimate talk with the art work I create. They should be able to interact with it everyday and the conversation should evoke their own emotions.

Art during the times of COVID-19. Your views?

Verma: This is a great opportunity for us - the artists. People are craving for our work more than ever. They may not recognise that there are artists behind their favourite TV shows, books, videos, nicely designed cutlery or a pen stand or an amulet, but they are yearning for the artwork that speaks to them personally. The recent rise in demand for specialised homemade cuisine, online learning in various forms of art, patronage to the works of many independent artists in music and films is a testimony to that.

The key here is art that speaks to the people. With the Covid-19 situation, the need to comply with social trends has taken a beating and people are feeling comfortable to express their individuality now more than ever. They are not getting tempted to comply with social norms if the art is not speaking to them personally. This is great news for every artist who wanted to create a niche for themselves. This is the time to find our own voice as an artist and express it in our work as the audience is ready.

(Puja Gupta can be contacted at puja.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS