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There is a meditative quality to Dimpy Menon's works arising out of a stillness that characterizes prayer, like the stillness at the eye of a storm. Although it is the human body that tells the story, the subtext of s...
There is a meditative quality to Dimpy Menon's works arising out of a stillness that characterizes prayer, like the stillness at the eye of a storm. Although it is the human body that tells the story, the subtext of such poetry in motion is this stillness. "(The bronzes) are charged with energy," wrote a critic recently, "Their dynamism stems from the force of a body language uninhibited by facial cues." Dimpy introduces us to the potential in her figures that is at once tense and relaxed. It is the moment that is both the high point of motion and the beginning of stillness. Or vice versa. This balance is at the heart of her sculptures.
For Dimpy Menon's philosophy of movement is equally a philosophy of the moment. Among its elements - since we are talking of the human body - there is grace, contortion, gentleness, abruptness, delicacy, control, and a slew of possibilities. This last is significant because Dimpy's sculptures deal in processes rather than products. There is no finality. Things are in the present continuous. It is as if once the viewer turns away, the figures will continue on their way only to quickly assume their original stances when he looks again. You cannot catch these visual accidents off guard - just as you cannot catch yourself looking away when you stare at a mirror. The figures arrest your attention in the midst of distraction - some subtly, by appearing to relax on a seat when, for all we know, they might have just arrived there in a rush; others more obviously as in the act of falling. Quiet relaxation is at the other end of intense movement, and a part of it. Dimpy is the memorialiser of the moment, investing it with a significance beyond that moment, bringing to the action the history, the mood and the sheer playfulness leading up to it.
In Dimpy's world, things just are. The works are remarkably non-judgemental, they stand for themselves and whatever the viewer makes of them. They do not arrive pre-packaged and demanding a particular set of reactions. It is a testimony to our collective consciousness that viewers often see in the works what the artist intends them to see; it is as much a tribute to the artist's instinct for finding the common humanism that drives us all. What is intensely private thus becomes universal. This is another version of the play of forces that results in the balance here. Taken singly and in groups, the bronzes tell stories. The figures capture the moment just before something happens, or the moment just after the action. At either end of motion is stillness. The bronzes celebrate life, capturing the human form in an array of movements: complex, acrobatic and graceful. They are a tribute to the fleeting moments that resonate in our minds like a line of poetry or a bar of music. The rough granite bases play off against the metal, enhancing the richness of the bronzes Dimpy Menon, the memorialiser of the moment is equally the memorialiser of movement. Both are eternalized in the same work, and it is this balance, ultimately, that makes her bronzes unique. "The more you do," says Dimpy, "The more there is to do." Artists, poets, composers have all discovered this for themselves through the ages.
BIODATA
There is a meditative quality to Dimpy Menon's works arising out of a stillness that characterizes prayer, like the stillness at the eye of a storm. Although it is the human body that tells the story, the subtext of such poetry in motion is this stillness. "(The bronzes) are charged with energy," wrote a critic recently, "Their dynamism stems from the force of a body language uninhibited by facial cues." Dimpy introduces us to the potential in her figures that is at once tense and relaxed. It is the moment that is both the high point of motion and the beginning of stillness. Or vice versa. This balance is at the heart of her sculptures.
For Dimpy Menon's philosophy of movement is equally a philosophy of the moment. Among its elements - since we are talking of the human body - there is grace, contortion, gentleness, abruptness, delicacy, control, and a slew of possibilities. This last is significant because Dimpy's sculptures deal in processes rather than products. There is no finality. Things are in the present continuous. It is as if once the viewer turns away, the figures will continue on their way only to quickly assume their original stances when he looks again. You cannot catch these visual accidents off guard - just as you cannot catch yourself looking away when you stare at a mirror. The figures arrest your attention in the midst of distraction - some subtly, by appearing to relax on a seat when, for all we know, they might have just arrived there in a rush; others more obviously as in the act of falling. Quiet relaxation is at the other end of intense movement, and a part of it. Dimpy is the memorialiser of the moment, investing it with a significance beyond that moment, bringing to the action the history, the mood and the sheer playfulness leading up to it.
In Dimpy's world, things just are. The works are remarkably non-judgemental, they stand for themselves and whatever the viewer makes of them. They do not arrive pre-packaged and demanding a particular set of reactions. It is a testimony to our collective consciousness that viewers often see in the works what the artist intends them to see; it is as much a tribute to the artist's instinct for finding the common humanism that drives us all. What is intensely private thus becomes universal. This is another version of the play of forces that results in the balance here. Taken singly and in groups, the bronzes tell stories. The figures capture the moment just before something happens, or the moment just after the action. At either end of motion is stillness. The bronzes celebrate life, capturing the human form in an array of movements: complex, acrobatic and graceful. They are a tribute to the fleeting moments that resonate in our minds like a line of poetry or a bar of music. The rough granite bases play off against the metal, enhancing the richness of the bronzes Dimpy Menon, the memorialiser of the moment is equally the memorialiser of movement. Both are eternalized in the same work, and it is this balance, ultimately, that makes her bronzes unique. "The more you do," says Dimpy, "The more there is to do." Artists, poets, composers have all discovered this for themselves through the ages.
Graduated in Fine Arts,
College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai
with 1st rank in 1986. Majored in Sculpture.
Solo:
Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore, 1981
Windsor Manor, Bangalore, 1985
Grindlay's Gallery, (Apparao Gallery), Chennai, 1986
Park Sheraton, Chennai, 1986
Windsor Manor, Bangalore, 1986
Sakshi Art Gallery, Chennai, 1988
Private showing, Dubai, 1994
Private showing, Bangalore, 1994
Renaissance Art Gallery, Bangalore, 1995
Time and Space, Bangalore, 1997
Manipal Gallery, Bangalore, 1999
Vinyasa Art Gallery, Chennai, 2001
Windsor Gallery and Art in Crafts Gallery, Bangalore, 2001
HDFC Gallery, Chennai, 2002
India International Centre, New Delhi, 2002
Forum Art Gallery, Chennai, 2003
Fluid Space Gallery, Bangalore, 2003
Time and Space, Bangalore 2004
Prana, Chennai, 2005
Time and Space, Bangalore, 2005
Nehru Centre, London, 2005
Appa Rao Galleries, Triveni, Delhi, 2005
Appa Rao Galleries, Chennai, 2007
Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 2008
Mahua Gallery and Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai, 2009
Appa Rao Galleries, Chennai, 2010
Chawla Gallery, Delhi, 2011
Alila, Bangalore, 2012
Apparao Galleries, Delhi, 2013
Group:
British Council, Chennai, 2 person show, 1987
Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai, 3 person show, 1987
Corporate Collection, Sakshi Art Gallery, Chennai, 1991
International Art Centre, Dubai, 1994
Lalit Kala Akademi, Working Artists Chennai, 2002
Cholamandal Annual Exhibition, Chennai, 2002
Art Exquisite, Raffles Hotel, Singapore, 2002
Vinyasa Gallery, Annual Exhibition, Chennai, 2002
Leela Palace, Time and Space, Bangalore, 2002
Art Land, Mumbai, 2003
Gallerie Sara Arakkal, Inaugural show, 2003
Time and Space, Bangalore, Sacred and Secular, 2003
Ganesha Show, Time and Space and Leela Galleria 2004
Picture Family, Apparao Galleries Chennai 2004
Chivas Regal, Bangalore , 2005
Homage to Hebbar, Venkatapa art gallery, 2005
Habitat Centre, Delhi, 2005
Mahua Gallery, Leela Palace, 2005
'Ephemeris', Salon des Arts, London, 2005
Vinyasa, Delhi, 2005
Vinyasa, Mumbai, 2005
Vinyasa, Hyderabad and Bangalore, 2005
Mahua Gallery, Bangalore, 2006
Chivas Art Experience, New Delhi 2006
Concern India, Bangalore, 2006
Vinyasa, Dubai 2007
Mahua, Bangalore, 2007
Asia House, London, 2008
Atiart Gallery, New Delhi, 2008
Mahua, Bangalore, 2009
Sculpture Trail, UB City, Bangalore 2009
Search Within, Gallerie 88, Kolkata, 2010
Chawla Gallery, New Delhi, 2010
Appa Rao Galleries, Chennai, 2011
Art Positive, Delhi, (4-person show) 2011
Dravidam, Habitat Centres, Delhi, 2011
Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi 2011
Art Chutney, Bangalore, 2011
Art Bengaluru, 2011
Art Positive, Annual show, Delhi 2012
Mahua Gallery, Bangalore, 2013
Art Positive, Delhi, 2013
Modern & Contemporary Art Auction, Bangalore, 2013
India Art Summit, Delhi, 2013
State Award for Sculpture, Tamil Nadu, 1984
State Award for Painting, Tamil Nadu, 1991