My Monochrome Art : Exploring the timeless infatuation with Black and White
Two contrasting forces. Maybe even conflicting to some but when brought together settle in perfect harmony with each other. The simplicity of classic black and white pairing has always had a strange pull on me. In a room full of colour I find myself automatically drawn to monochromes. I have an emotional reaction to the dichotomic narratives that the greyscales unfold.
Enigma of Absence of Colour
Experts postulate black is the absence of colour.
Paradoxically while keeping in mind the additive and subtractive colour theory revolving around black and how ironically one can make black by simply mixing two or more primary colours, this “absence of colour” provides an endless spectrum of possibilities for artistic expression and creativity. It invites us to consider an alternative towards our engagement to the concept of colour. Absence of colour can be as captivating and thought-provoking as it’s presence.
Time Travel to Childhood
Yashika Vintage Camera
My allure for black and white finds it’s way back into my childhood when all my father had was a Yashika camera that churned out small black and white photographs. I remember flipping through these photographs separated by transparent butter paper in large brown and black paper albums. I have grown up seeing these and reliving countless stories in colour in my head or so narrated by my mum. “You were wearing a pink birthday frock here with a pink bow on your 1st birthday”. I still love flipping through albums when I visit my mum. They instantly transport me those timeless golden days.
My fascination for black and white art finds root in keeping this feeling of longing and romanticism alive.
When I dip my brush into that black paint, nostalgia and melancholy take over. This is how it all began but now this infatuation searches into something deeper in me.
Delving Deeper into the Dichotomy through my Art
Elliott Erwitt eloquently puts this dichotomy in perspective for me with his famous quote “Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.”
One can skillfully argue that reality is neither uniquely joyful nor peculiarly sad but interplay of both these emotions at once and therein lies the dichotomy. We are not just always good but rather evil too at the same time. The polarity of these conflicting feelings is where the beauty lies.
Black and white graciously invites us to consider such other possibilities of interpretations. They demand viewer’s immediate attention creating a distinctive visual impact while masterfully conveying Artist’s emotions in a powerful manner.
Through my Art, I expand and explore emotional and visual contrarieties using greyscale as my medium of expression. The concepts of light and darkness, light and shadow, stillness and movement, joy and sadness all such opposing forces visit my canvas together and I want to leave the onlooker with a vast spectrum of their own interpretations of what they see based on their life experience stimuli.
Enjoy my Art in just their visual capacity or delve deeper into the recesses of your mind and heart with them if they stir something inside of you. The choice is yours.
My Monochrome Love
BLACK AND WHITE CHARCOAL STUDIES
