Shahid Parvez is constantly expressing a playful, exuberant happiness in everything he does, including his Art. Talking with him, listening to his enthusiasm and the excitement in his voice of the observations of life surrounding him, you learn that he loves to have fun with those that he comes into contact with and to share with them the pleasure of happiness and laughter.
The work of Shahid has been described repeatedly as ‘child like’ and indeed it has an innocence of fun and playfulness exuding from it and whilst Shahid may draw inspirations from children around him, along with his own childhood memories and experiences, he gives us this insight through the medium of his Art. There is a much more deliberate and educated side to his work, perhaps played down and overlooked by these innocent child like descriptions. This level of maturity goes well beyond the ‘child like’ in its dominion of intellectual descriptiveness of the imagery and places this work well into the realm of the adult.
His humble beginnings from Tribal and Folk Arts of Rajasthan have led him into an area of printmaking, painting and sculpture that is continuing to develop into a more and more sophisticated Art. Shahid has a unique style all of his own which has very little influence from others and makes his work very recognisably his. I associate a period of his earlier works where human figures, animals and objects were given a freedom and detachment and allowed to float within his compositions in a way that can be aligned to western motifs of cherubs and angelic figures as with the Art of Chagall.
His printmaking has developed from etchings of superb images of tigers and of romanticised couples, which have been common-place themes of imagery that reoccur continually in his work, into serigraphs of multiple coloured registrations creating surfaces of incredible richness and extravagance.
His paintings with their multiple surface layering’s act in defusing the sometimes explicitly charged renditions of flirtations as in ‘time for love’ with the obvious placement of the heart shaped time piece, a discreet twist of a nipple and the cats tail being held suggestively.
In the land of Karma Sutra we are reminded of the fun of foreplay before the final act of copulation, we are reminded of the stimulations of a romantic era almost lost to the generation of youth today. The repeated use of the delicate lotus flower, the power of the elephant and aggressiveness of the tiger in his work, of course aids to reinforce the symbolic gesturing of romantic couplings as Karma Sutra despite these being softened into the background and the layering’s beyond the figurative surfaces.
We see voluptuous breasts on young female figures flying with wild abandon in all directions, occasionally uncovered, but not with the intentions of sexual exploitation but to describe femininity in its transformation from pubescence of the girl into the maturity of the woman, this is best described visually in the serigraph titled ‘who wants to grow up’.
These works are hardly ‘child like’ in their sophisticated subliminal metaphors.
We are also presented with playful works that portray the animal as playthings and toys where the ‘child like’ returns as such to describe the enjoyment of daily life with family and friends and of holidays and of new bikes. In this way Shahid reminds us of the child at heart within us and that we must remember to enjoy our memories from our childhood and to make every day as much fun as we possibly can.
Shahid brings to share with us in this exhibition a few pieces of his most recent project with children. The Rocking Horse, what fun, who of us did not enjoy a toy with rocking motions? My own memories of the rocking horse, I had to share with 9 other siblings are prominent with bursts of tears not only when my toe was caught under the rocking foot of the horse but of my turn taking so long in coming round, what fun it was.
Our memories and recollections of experiences throughout our lives combined with the knowledge we acquire during our studies and then the living of life give us the ability to enjoy Art and to read Art on many levels, but Shahid in all of his subtleties of wisdom is telling us to view Art through the innocent eyes of the child we once were.
Geoffery B Mason
Australia
The earlier art works of shahid Parvez displayed a subtle over tone of humour woven into the narrative content. Though Parvez, for a brief period, made a sally into the realm of cartoons, yet this humour can not be explained away as the influence of the cartoonist's Art. Parvez was inspired by the folk and tribal motifs of Rajasthan. A sense of humour which arises from the perception and depiction of the incongruities of existence is always present in the folk and tribal art from which the artist drew his inspiration. His deft handling of the medium and his yearning for love and union and a sense of belonging to the tradition of Rajasthan had evolved an imagery which was the metaphor of his personal language.
Now, there is a sea - change in his work. Shahid intentionally departs from his favourable traditional motifs in chromatic pallet with an aim to attain redemption from the mystic, ornate precession which had informed his earlier art works serious and at the same time mischievous with a gentle humour.
Now, Shahid is in a process of refining his own craft, his own perceptions, but without disowning his original vision which still remains artistically valid and convincing as fiction. But now, caught in the flux of the modern existence Shahid attempts to fathom the new aesthetics and the new urban locale.
There, emerges new subjective attitudes, responses, and images that carry as great a sense of reality as part of life itself.
•Surprisingly, Shahid is now innovative, intuitive, and without being enslaved by his own past, presents it up to date. His observation grows much more kaleidoscopic casting his net widder to bring new living scope to his endearingly enchanting existence. The earlier bright colors are cooled down. The amorous couples of his early paintings have been largely replaced by portraitures of men and women. Shahid is now observing his locale like a child who innocently formulates his own shapes and like a protagonist of his own narrations carries actions forward. Action-past, present or future becomes most important for him. He seems to be telling a story. A dog wearing orange and red stripped shirt licking his own tail may give an impression of illicit or adulterous behaviour whereas, An elephant toy with rolling wheels blown up to the scale of man over a leaping man create a fun that only a child can achieve.
These works are definitely a result of strong observation. Here Shahid employes fun not as an adult peeping through a hole. Rather, he looks at the scene with a childs curious mind. The over all treatment is a subtle blend of an adult's experience & a child like fantasy. The oddities in delineation of human as well as animal forms are result of child like fantasy. Shahid has a tendency to draw which is conducive theatrical assimilations. His tigers behave like pets so do the elephants which turn into toys, It is a child's world that is full of richness as well as complexity narrated adult. Shahid here emboldens his child psyche and attains his painterly terrain which i will call "precious".
As written by Shail Choyal
Malcolm Grant , an Art Collector from Australia writes beautifully of his feelings on Shahid's works -
In much the same way that life is given to us in multiple layers, in his new works Shahid gives us paintings with increasingly complex and interlinked levels. What impresses me most about Shahid's work is the way in which he manages to combine these different layers to us. His works present us with a series of simple overt images. However underlying that first level is a series of much more complex, intricate and interesting covert images and levels.
Picasso once said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." I feel that in his new paintings Shahid has managed to remain a child and yet not lose the adult entirely. The central images in all of his paintings shows him to still have a child's wonder and delight at the use of colour and form. The man shines through in his intricate weaving of the deeper stuff of life into the underpainting and the way in which he manages to conceal more than he reveals while showing us enough to maintain our interest.
At first glance we see a portrait, an elephant or a couple on a bicycle, but by truly looking into the image we see what lies beneath those first glances. The paintings begin to reveal themselves as being full of the richness and complexity of other beings, other people and other events. Shahid's works allow me to reflect on my life and to think of all the layers that lie beneath the simple things that I see and experience on a daily basis.
I look at his paintings & i want to know - what is happening that i can't see, how is the central image linked to all of the things i can see in the underpainting, how are all of the images in the underpainting linked to one another and why has he chosen to cover up some and leave others revealed ?
The works in this exhibition are an example of childlike wonder at the beauty & joy of color and form combined with and adult sensibility of the richness and complexity behind the simple joys of life. I experience a palpable sense of joy when i look at these works, a joy that reminds me that amidst the mundane and ordinary events of life there are layers and layers of meaning and life going on around us.
Malcolm Grant - Art Collector - Australia
Born 1970, Udaipur
Masters Degree in Drawing & Painting with Gold Medal from M.L.
Sukhadia University, Udaipur, 1993
Assistant Professor, Visual arts, College of Social Science and Humanities, MLSU, Udaipur
AWARDS
1990 Maharana Raj Singh Award, Maharana Mewar Foundation, Udaipur.
1993-94 Won Prizes for Cartooning, Poster Making, Painting and Collage in the National and West Zone Inter University Youth Festivals
1993 Appreciation Award, Mahakaushal Kala Parishad, Raipur
1995 State Artist Award, RLKA, Jaipur
1997 AIFACS Scholarship Award, New Delhi
1997 Wales/Rajasthan Exchange Scholarship Award, British Council, New Delhi
1997 State Artist Award, RLKA, Jaipur
1998 All India Art Binnale Award, RLKA, Jaipur
2003 Charles Wallace India Trust (CWIT) Award, British Council, New Delhi
2005 The Royal West of England Academy Award, Bristol, UK
2006 74th Annual All India Art Exhibition Award, AIFACS, New Delhi
2008 “Aranya 2008” RAD, Kolkata, India
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1990 Information Center Udaipur, INDIA
1991 Art Fair, Udaipur by RLKA, Jaipur INDIA
1997 LTG Art Gallery, New Delhi, INDIA
1999 James Harvey Gallery, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
2001 Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi, INDIA
2001 WZCC, Udaipur INDIA
2002 Galerie “LE Volcan” Paris, FRANCE
2003 Llanover Hall Arts Centre, Cardiff U.K.
2004 La Bicyclette Café, Paris, FRANCE
2005 Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai INDIA
2006 Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi, INDIA
2007 Art – Effect, De Galerie, Den Haag, HOLLAND
2008 Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi, INDIA
2009 La Distillerie Art House, Bulle, SWITZERLAND
2009 M art centre, Shanghai, CHINA
2011 Interart Gallery, Heeswijk, HOLLAND
2012 Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi, INDIA
2017 “On cloud nine” Bougainvillea art gallery, Udaipur INDIA
2019 Gallery “Trace-Ecart” Bulle, SWITZERLAND
NATIONAL PARTICIPATIONS
1995-2005 National Art Exhibition, New Delhi
1997-2002 Bharat Bhwan Biennale of Graphics, Bhopal, INDIA
1999 “The Millennium Mask” Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi, INDIA
2008 “Ananya” Bajaj Capital Art house, Habitat Centre New Delhi, India
2008 ART today in Rajasthan, Dhoomimal art Centre New Delhi, India
2010 ICA Gallery Jaipur, INDIA
2011 Group Show at New Terminus, Jaipur Airport, Gallery Artchill, Jaipur, INDIA
2011 “Portrait of an artist” Dhoomimal art center, New Delhi, INDIA
2012 Group Show at Trident BKC, Mumbai, organized by Gallery Artchill, Jaipur, INDIA
2012 Group Show by Artchill Beilree, Mumbai, INDIA
2012 Group Show at Trident BKC, Mumbai, organized by Gallery Artchill, Jaipur, INDIA
2013 “Confluence des Arts” Gallery Artchill, Amber Palace, Jaipur INDIA
2013 “Art Fusion Show” Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai INDIA
2015 “Desires and Explorations” Juneja Art Gallery Jaipur, Raj
2015 'THE REVEALED MYSTERIES' Juneja Art Gallery Jaipur, Raj
2017 “Open Book” International exhibition, RLKA, Jaipur
2018 ‘ART IDIOMS - STRAY & MOULDED' Juneja Art Gallery, Jaipur
2018 “Rajasthan 147” Jahangir Art Gallery Mumbai
2019 'Inner voices - outer masks' Juneja Art Gallery Jaipur, Raj
2019 “Padharo Mhare Des” exhibition of Contemporary art of Rajasthan at RLKA, Jaipur
2019 Jaipur Art Summit Mumbai Edition, Bombay Art Society, Mumbai
2020 'Inscrutable Layers' Group Show by Gallery Artchill, Amer Fort, Jaipur.
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATIONS
1997-2002 Mini Print International Exhibition, SPAIN
1999 3D Gallery, Bristol, Wales U.K.
2000 “Relativities” The 4th British International Miniature Print Exhibition, U.K.
2001 “Wales Dunes” British Council, New Delhi, INDIA
2001 “Tradition to Modernity” Fulda, GERMANY
2003 International d’art Miniature prints Exhibition, CANADA
2003 International Triennial of Graphic Art Bitola, MACEDONIA
2003 The 9th International Art on Paper Fair, Sydney, AUSTRALIA
2004 Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2004 IV Printmaking Festival of Evora, PORTUGAL
2004 Mini Print triennial, FINLAND
2005 Contemporary Chronicles, Art Alive Gallery New Delhi, INDIA
2005 “Beyond the Border” the Wales international storytelling festival, UK
2006 “Entrusted” an exhibition of CWIT scholars, British Council, New Delhi, INDIA
2007 “An Artistic Journey” Rajasthan and UK, Chandigarh INDIA
2008 Frank Museum of Art at Otterbein Collage in Ohio USA
2008 Galerie de Compagnie, HOLLAND
2009 7th International Biennial exhibition of Engraving, Paris FRANCE
2011 Wales Rajasthan Exchange Exhibition, JKK Jaipur, INDIA
2011 Wales Rajasthan Exchange Exhibition, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff, UK
2011 “Delineation” Queen’s art gallery, British Council, New Delhi, INDIA
2013-19 Jaipur Art Summit, JKK, Jaipur, INDIA
2016 ICAC International Graphic Exchange Program, Art Hub, Mumbai
2015-17 International ‘India Art Fair’ exhibition ground, Okhla, New Delhi INDIA
2017 “FACE TO FACE: INDIA” an International art exhibition by Art Pivote, at JKK Jaipur
2018 “Letting the Light in Udaipur a Slice of India” International exhibition, Bath, UK
2019 Melbourne Affordable Art Fair, Australia
WORKSHOPS
1994 National Art Festival, Chandigarh
1995 Student Graphic Workshop, WZCC, Udaipur
1997 All India Graphic camp by “Aaj” Udaipur
1997 All India Graphic Workshop, Jawahar Kala Kendr, Jaipur, Raj
2003 All India Graphic Camp, WZCC, Udaipur
2008 Painting Camp by Dhoomimal City Gallery, New Delhi
2008 Painting Camp by Secure meters, Udaipur
2009 All India Painting workshop by Art Chill, Jaipur
2010 Painting Workshop by Lalit Kala Academy Lucknow
2011 International painting workshop, MLSU, Shilpgram, Udaipur, Raj
2012 All India Painting workshop, MLSU and RTDC, Kumbhalgarh, Raj
2012 National Art camp, Kalaneri Gallery, Jaipur, Rajasthan
2013 All India Painting workshop, MLSU and RTDC, Kumbhalgarh, Raj
2014 All India Graphic Workshop, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, Raj
2016 All India Artist Camp, Mount Abu, RLKA, Jaipur, Raj
2016 National Painting Camp, IIS University, Jaipur, Raj
2016 All India Painting camp, Department of Visual Arts, MLSU, Udaipur
2016 All India Artist Camp, Art fair, Udaipur, RLKA, Jaipur
2017 ‘’KRISHNACHARIT-2’’international multimedia art camp-2017 organized by Chittorgarh Art Society, Chittorgarh
2017 All India Art Camp, organized by “Bharti Vidhyapreeth’s College of Fine Arts, Pune
2017 All India painting camp By Sanskar Bharti Deogar , Diver
2018 Indo-Korean International painters camp at Secure meters, Udaipur organized by Dharohar & PN Choyal Trust, Udaipur
2018 International Painters camp organized by TAKHMAN, Udaipur
2019 All India Painters Camp, Uruswati center for Contemporary arts, Gurugram, Hariyana
COLLECTIONS
The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol ( UK), British Council New Delhi, Arpana Fine Arts Museum, New Delhi, West Zone Culture Center Udaipur, National Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, State Lalit Kala Academy Lucknow , Rajasthan Lalit Kala Academy Jaipur, MLSU, Udaipur, R.T.D.C. Udaipur, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, Secure meters, Udaipur, IIS University, Jaipur and many private collections in India & abroad.
ORGANISATIONAL AND EXTENSION WORKS
Organized workshops with children from schools, slums, and young prisoners