Important Notice

“Himmat Shah’s suite of large heads comes at the apex of his investigation of the human condition…In his construction of the head, ancient presences are suggested, like atavistic shadows…Here, as the artist perceives it, the head, the phallus and the pillar are all the same; the sculpture gains its vitality not in its definition, but in the process of arriving at a form. These works appear to re-echo the passage of civilizations, recalling early... “Himmat Shah’s suite of large heads comes at the apex of his investigation of the human condition…In his construction of the head, ancient presences are suggested, like atavistic shadows…Here, as the artist perceives it, the head, the phallus and the pillar are all the same; the sculpture gains its vitality not in its definition, but in the process of arriving at a form. These works appear to re-echo the passage of civilizations, recalling early migrations between Africa and India, to ancient seaports like Lothal, perhaps…Stubborn and unrelenting, these heads become expressive of a state of resistance, one that bears the marks of isolation perhaps, but also of a commitment to life and endurance…The heads also bear the marks and grooves of an experiential mapping of tentative tracks and journeys. In the surface of his forms, Himmat recalls the craft techniques of his native Saurashtra, its strong linear pictorial/pictogramic style, and the exposed stitched embroidery of its womenfolk. These striated marks appear like a domestic activity as much as a cartographic plotting of vast journeys across the surface of the earth…The patina, furrows and the sharp cleavages of long years of human experience are visible, as Himmat invites us to share in a monumental quietude and the fraternity of being human. At the same time, the stillness of the images offers a sense of its perpetual entrapment and silence” (Gayatri Sinha, An Unreasoned Act of Being: New Sculptures by Himmat Shah, Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., Ahmedabad, 2007, p. 45, 51).

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