Head Tale: Effective for now but..

Review : Soumen Bhowmick / Johny ML (Art Critic & Curator, India)

Published on : www.cartanart.com, 01/04/2014

Soumen Bhowmick, in person, represents the quintessential image of an artist; fragile, soft, 
animated while speaking and dignified. Often when such artists exhibit in community galleries 
like Triveni in Delhi, despite their sincere efforts they do not get enough print or visual media space. Friendly folks who walk in would look at the works dispassionately or at times patronizingly. Artists, unlike in the mainstream galleries, here are eager to talk to you, get a comment from you. A word of appreciation makes them happier than a real purchase because they know, even in these post-boom years, words of encouragement matter more than money. Most of these artists find benevolent patrons in due course of time; these patrons support them by buying their works not as investments but as a gesture of appreciation and love. Critics use their words to encourage (sometimes, to discourage) and patrons use their money to do the same (sometimes, to spoil the artists).

Part (F.N.) Souza, part (Francis) Bacon, part (Philip) Guston, part (Ernst) Neiztvestny, 
part (George) Grosz and part (Bengali) folk artists, these works of Soumen Bhowmick 
are the meeting point of various pictorial traditions. In this solo show titled ‘Head Tale’, 
what one sees is a series of human heads done over the last five years and interestingly 
not a single human head resemble any real human head or anything near to it. The artist’s 
attempt is not to capture the very similitude of the human heads that we see milling 
around us today but his intention is to look at the ways in which these heads take shape 
in his own ‘head’. This is a way of perceiving people, not exactly as people but as 
creatures of a magical world. For an artist like Soumen Bhowmick, reality or the real world 
around him is a series of appearances and from a peculiar perspective human beings lose their perceived charm and they become creatures distorted by protrusions, intrusions and organic growths.

How does an artist come to view human beings in this way? Either it should be an outcome of the complete loss of faith in human beings as sublime entities or it should come from a belief that human beings who show beautiful countenances to others hide so many weird things in their minds. When the social structures demand a certain kind of behavioral pattern from people, theirs become a tortured existence as they fail to express their innate desires and cruelties within the controlled environment. That means human societies are perverted zones of permanent repressions. Soumen Bhowmick not only sees other people as creatures living within human forms but also sees himself as one, often as a victim or a saint tortured by the arrows of accusations. This pictorial device has been used by many artists aforementioned as protest, disparage and as active rebellion. In an absolutely changed social context, Soumen can emulate this stylistic device only to express his angst.

In his statement, Soumen says that his works are inspired by the scenes from the streets where faces pile up. He feels like giving them a comic twist and an ironic edge. In their distorted selves they look like clowns in a carnival, a menacing carnival of deception. Here notionally Soumen stands closer to Peter Brueghel who had depicted the human vices both perceived and imagined. However, I feel that Soumen needs to move a little further to articulate his views; an urgent departure from heads and faces is demanded. The danger of getting stuck to this language is palpable, which would eventually blunt his critical paintings and they would turn into decorative design with a signature style.