Artist cuts fine lines on wood to seek answers

As we walk through the Art Houz Gallery that is hosting Art for Vision, an ongoing charity exhibition, among works of a host of well-established contemporary artists, it is the artistic brilliance of Vijay Pichumani that intrigues us the most. 

His artform is equally interesting - Vijay is a woodcut print artist. Woodcut, occasionally known as xylography, is a relief printing technique. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood, typically with gouges, leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Vijay’s works are dominated by ravens, fish, landscapes, the human body and things that are common in our daily lives.

Born in 1987 in Kanniyakumari, Vijay, who has a BFA and an MFA from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, says, “My first work was rather dark.

It had a dead crow hanging from a tree with other crows reacting to it. It was to signify the amount of pressure parents put on their children to prove themselves the minute they finish college. This often drives them over the edge resulting in suicides.” His artistry lies in between the lines he creates. They are like pauses, a space between breaths, holding something deep – a history, a memory, an association, an understanding, an identity – that travels between the artist and the beholder, like two halves of a secret promise existing despite (and sometimes, in spite of) the physical distance. For Vijay Pichumani visualises sound through lines, rendering them a tactile quality that resonates with a collective frequency embedded in our personal narratives, through lines that hold the key to everything we know and perceive and that which we seek in our frequent quests into the unknown. “The lines represent how nothing is permanent and there is no end like rivers that keep flowing and the human veins that traverse their way through organs. Lines also imply how there is a pattern when things break and how sound travels,” adds Vijay who won the 56th National Award for Woodcut Print. Vijay’s works will be available at the exhibition by Art Houz in collaboration with World Vision India, till January 29.

Lines apart, dots and holes also find their place in his works that are largely in black and white with intricate details.

“Like the air that travels from one side of the canvas to the other, our thoughts are in constant search of answers, answers which lead us to more questions,” says Vijay adding that he uses agarbathisto make the holes on paper to create the art.

What’s next? “Every artwork is the beginning of another. So yes, I have a lot of ideas I’m working on, and nature as always will be the central part of it,” he concludes.