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In the rooms of g27, Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie are presenting new works by the Indian artist Viveek Sharma (*1969, Mumbai) and by the Japanese sculptor Hideki Iinuma (*1975, Nagano).

With Viveek Sharma Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie are expanding their programme with a new emerging artist known in India under the synonym "Painter of Metaphors".

After graduating from the well-known J.J. School of Arts in Mumbai, Viveek Sharma initially focussed on drawing, a technique that still forms the basis of his work today. Since 2005 the artist has been painting photo-realistic pictures, in which he deals with his impressions, emotions and experiences, or actual incidents. From this results an imagery that at first sight could not appear more diverse. In Viveek Sharma's work sociocritical, economic and political topics are juxtaposed and conveyed to the viewer either by way of messages or the help of metaphors. Sharma himself enumerates three possible modes of representation in his paintings: The artist includes himself in the picture by way of a self-portrait, as if to indicate that he considers himself an integral part of his narrative and is personally affected, or then he depicts himself on the margins of the represented scene, as a silent observer of the event.

Viveek Sharma: Fine cut, 2010

Oil on canvas, 91,4 x 91,4 cm
Courtesy: Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, Zurich

Click on image to enlarge.

In the work exhibited in this show "Heaven Can't Wait no More", for instance, the artist poses as the Indian god Shiva. In a second form that excludes self-portrayal, the artist transfers his impressions to the canvas by way of an outsider's perspective. These are snap-shots of occurrences that took him by surprise and grip his attention until he can capture them in an image. The third method of representation reflects the artist's experiences in Europe. A number of paintings address his stay in Chemnitz, Germany, where the artist lived and worked for three months due to a grant awarded him by the Chemnitzer Kunstsammlungen. These works serve to highlight the contrast to his life in India. In one part of these paintings the artist consciously addresses the modern perception of women. In the work "KALIYUG", which translates as "Present-day Goddess Kali", an ant-sized Viveek Sharma comes to stand next to a pair of immense shiny stilettos and gazes up wonderingly at the bearer. This represents his impression of the strong emancipated European woman striding to work on vertiginous shoes - an image that stands in stark contrast to his habitual Indian environment. Viveek Sharma himself declares never to have seen his mother work.

Hideki Iinuma: Ironic and Eccentric

Camphor painted, 129 x 140 x 95 cm
Courtesy: Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, Zurich

Click on image to enlarge.

Viveek Sharma's representation of women and biographical mode of working offers many cross-references with the sculptures of the Japanese artist Hideki Iinuma. With his figures sculpted from wood, Iinuma finds himself in a borderland between Western and Eastern culture marked both by contrasts and similarities. As with Viveek Sharma also his sojourn in Europe left a lasting impression. He trained as a sculptor at the Aichi Prefecture University of Fine-Arts, Aichi, Japan, and the Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France. In his sculptures that bear evidence of an impressive craftsmanship, Iinuma draws on the old ichiboku-zukuri technique common in Japan until the 10th century by which the work is crafted from a block of wood, and further develops it. He combines this technique with a special surface treatment that leaves the traces from working on the wood and the grain still visible under a coat of paint. Iinuma who counts among the young generation of Japanese artists, critically analyses the changes of his time by way of his sculptures. The girl-image evolved from Neo-Pop forms his main subject matter as does the changing perception of women in Japanese society. His figures carved from Camphor wood, often exuding a hint of ostentatious sexuality, mostly represent models from newspapers and magazines. For women in Japan as for those in Europe these young women are more and more becoming enthusiastically emulated fashion icons. Hideki Iinuma clearly holds up a mirror to them and their environment.