Reviewing Riyas Komu's new set of works- II

Desert: It’s a fascinating specter of control in an imaginative way is suggested. Here a horse is cut into two pieces and connected by an oil pipe. A similar pipe is used in the work Tribute to the footballer, which brings three diverse elements together to make a sad observation to a conclusive one side of a barricade.

A carved wooden leg topped by a metal pipe balanced by a wooden crutch that allows it to stay upright. The whole looks oppressive, with its nuanced approach giving value to the plight of those maimed in the war of terror but still full of life for the beautiful game.

Haleema: The painting is an accompanying image of a singular portrait of a woman giving a speech on a cold day. The actual face of the woman and the background is blurred and indistinguishable, a technique commonly used in portraits in the media to hide the identity of the person.

What is still recognizable from what suggests a forlorn gaze into the distance, as if her lips are syncing to utter what could be a set of remarks. It is in its simplicity that the portrait starts to vibrate in an unfolding that can only be described as a diachronic thinking through time, of the isappearance and dispersal of humaneness in the contemporary, of honesty and gentleness.

Blood Brothers: It’s a set of cast aluminum figures of soldiers from opposing sides, hung against a wall in a battle of no mercies nor of definite winners. It is in this complex battlefield of grids and victims that they suggest the nonsense of spectral violence that now ruins our capacity to be called the intelligent, civilizing race.