Art connects with social psychology in Pallav Chander's experiences on canvas

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS): With its moving portrayals of dyslexia and art, 2007 movie Taare Zameen Par touched many hearts and lives, but it left a unique impression on artist Pallav Chander, a painter's son who took to art out of curiosity.

With his expressive visuals, Chander has found his language of art and will be exhibiting in the capital next week.

Chander, born into a painter's family, had more canvasses than food in his house. Diagnosed with dyslexia some 18 years back at the age of 11, he went to pursue an arts degree in the Birmingham City University, UK, and also joined theatre down the line.

For Chander, art connects with social psychology. What is it, then, that he observes about society?

"I was born in this pretentious society of art, there are different masks on everyone's face, whether a local vendor or someone in the 'high society'."

"I do theatre, and I find that there are better actors off-stage than on-stage. The social element stays with me and triggers me," he told IANS in an interview here.

His works like Home is Home and Fake World are commentaries on what he sees around. The artist works every day and has 'triggers' that stimulate him to work.

"The trick in my work is that I never know what I'm starting with. It has to be a trigger, it can be a human being, emotion or situation."

"I work on triggers. I lost one of my very dear friends, and that triggered me to do something about his poetry. I wanted to depict his poetry through my perspective. It's like I'm taking dictation from the universe," he shared.

A strong visual focus and the accident of birth brought him to fine arts. However, what perturbed him was his inability to draw, which interestingly, was shared by many of his university's teachers.

"It was more concept-oriented. Half of the teachers didn't know how to draw. What they were trying to teach us is how the art market is currently. They would take a pen, and say 'sell me this as a piece of art'."

Asked if he's vulnerable on canvas, Chander says that it is the only place he can be vulnerable on and calls his studio his "mind" of organised chaos.

"I don't know how the 'other' feels, so my experience is natural to me," he said about his experience of dyslexia.

His art exhibition Tomorrow Belongs to Me will run at the Alliance Francaise here from August 2-4, through which he will explore contemporary societal psychology and behaviour.