Madan Lal’s solo exhibition Meadows of Lifescape is about the bounties of nature

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.”  Rs Confucius

Only artists often do, especially Chandigarh-based eminent artist Madan Lal. As the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh, is hosting his solo show, organised jointly by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi and the museum, once again his canvasses burst with bounties of nature, irrepressible joy and beauty.

Yes, even when his thoughts dwell on migrants in the city, he can only sense their elation. And he recreates their happy moments, emanating from joy of small things, like an auto-rickshaw ride. But delve deeper and this humble vehicle becomes analogous of the Biblical Noah’s Ark, their refuge in a new place.

Kasturi, the musk deer, in quest of the very fragrance which actually emanates from its body is not just another leitmotif. Madan Lal goads us to seek joy, peace and harmony within our own selves. Incidentally, parrot is a recurring metaphor almost like his artistic signature, alluding as much to the mind, which never stops buzzing, as to the soul in the body. Reciting lines from a folk song on how life is transient, his connect with Sufi thought too is evident.

Even if life is ephemeral, its beauty is perennial. For someone who grew up on the verses of Bulle Shah and Baba Farid, and endless stories of Indian mythology, Lal’s art reflects what he absorbed. Not by design, but almost like a default setting, torrent of images, often too many, simply come to him, from his immediate environment. Phulkari, geometric forms of Le Corbusier’s city and host of elements, find a place in Meadows of Lifescape, the title of his exhibition. Physical and spiritual, subconscious and conscious come together to create a mélange of colours, forms and textures. By and large, his colour pallete is robust, vibrant and joyous. Bold colours jostle with those immanent in nature. Suddenly the tone turns sombre too. A couple under the umbrella is one of the striking works in hues of grey and black. Another arresting one depicting many seasons is from his Barahmas series which earned him an art fellowship. If Lord Krishna playing a flute appears in a corner of one painting, in yet another composition the flute player is possibly a Sufi poet.

Over the years his faces may have become more defined, mirroring pool of emotions, but by no stretch of imagination are his paintings realistic. Anant, anand and anhad are not just words for him; he lives them each moment of his life on his canvasses. The exhibition also includes fibreglass sculptures, recreation of deer mostly, as also yogic postures. Whatever may be the final imagery, it’s first a dialogue with his own self, a means to know himself better. For before art can communicate, it has to express your innermost feelings, desires and dreams.

(On till May 31)