UN VOYAGE - FRANCE
The series Un voyage was created during the artist's stay in France as well as his trip through Europe. The last destination of his journey was Pompeii which was "like encountering a devastating event of history in front of me". This has not only had an impact on him mentally, but also driven him physically. Abhishek Narayan Verma was moved by overlooking at the burnt surface and the lethal gesture of the city. Here, the two sets of work in this series Un voyage is encouraged by the analogue life which he has seen and experienced at the same time. This series narrates the artist's experience of time travel.
Set 1
Abhishek Narayan Verma's approach towards this work was to document the activities in a more obvious and naturalistic way, with a pinch of absurdity that has always been a major part of his practice. During his stay in residency he had explored various dimensions of life, from his accommodation, his studio space where he spent most of his time interacting with new people outside, prospecting for a different culture, experiencing theatre etc. As a whole, those experiences were very new and fascinating to the artist and made him feel overwhelmed. In this way Abhishek Narayan Verma adopted various interior spaces and situations in his painting with which he tried to manipulate few elements related to his daily life there. Overall, that helped him to create an ambiguous narration in his work.
Set 2
The artist's reflection of the horrendous experience of visiting the devastating historical site of Pompeii left him into an emotional turmoil. Pompeii had mentally affected him where he bound to think about the two consistencies happening around him at the same time and pushed him to turn around and revisit history. In Pompeii the last possible movement of human beings there is frizzed throughout the time, everything is still naturally preserved as it was, from food, human bodies, animals to murals, artefacts etc. and some are still being excavated from the site every day. It does not only preserve time and history but also defines the power of a volcanic disaster. While reconsidering the alarming history, it raised a question about uncertainty... and there after those uncertain events we start cherishing, enjoying, it builds memories and life around it… and it continues. Thus, fire and light shows another perspective of life in this series of work, where death unveils another truth and the moments become memorabilia.
