Trained in diverse streams like botany, painting, illustration, engineering, computer science, and even comparative mythology, Baiju Parthan's awe-inspiring artistic scope inhabits multi-faceted realms. He has deftly created a unique vocabulary based on the intriguing usage of symbols and archaic imagery.
A Postgraduate Diploma in comparative mythology and hid degree in botany provide ample hint of his inquisitive mind. These diverse elements inform his thoughtful work that all retain a cohesive almost narrative touch in spite of their disparate origins.
He has stated: “The different themes or subjects I have studied at various points in my life are out of the need understand why I am I here, and what I am doing. And as such they have become part of my life and my art. I think those things have become lens through which I look at reality and that gets reflected in my art quite naturally. At least, it appears natural to me.”
Baiju Parthan's work tries to seek existential reconciliation with the perceived intangibility of the intriguing information age. His practice essentially revolves around the omnipresent theme of the intersection between the areas of collective imagination, the material world, as well as the non-material digital sphere. He constructs highly compelling mythic imagery mostly in black, with shades of blues and greens. The parchment brown background creates an illusion of some secretive magical cult’s medieval manuscript.
According to the artist, with the photograph gradually turning into a virtual entity, the physicality of painting has become more attractive to him as an artist. He adds, “I feel the physicality of the painted image is becoming an important or the only counterpoint to the fact that the photograph of today (our primary source of images) is a virtual object captured on a digital camera and uploaded onto an online album or to a hard disc where it lives as bits and bytes, till invoked onto a computer screen."
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