The interrelationship of space, line and volume form the core of Ravi Shankar’s ongoing body of work, titled the Construction Series. The lazer-cut paper relief works are objects of precision, presenting controlled contrasts of light and shadow, texture and flatness, as the artist plays with the rhythms and tensions caused by complex mathematical layering of the medium. Devoid of any distractions of colour, the structures form multiple patterns and tonal gradations through their dimensionality. These evoke ideas of architectural labyrinths, diagrams of sacred geometry or even topographies of imagined landscapes, as the eye is drawn inward and across the surfaces.

Looking back at Ravi Shankar’s prolific practice of 4 decades and more, one can follow his journey through various expressive phases, in which he self-assuredly explored abstraction, figuration and symbolic representation, each phase responding to his external experiences and internal responses to time, memory and place. The son of C.L.S. Mani, a trained artist and prolific art director, Shankar was exposed to the world of culture, design and creative expression from his childhood. In the late 70s, he joined the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. Turning towards printmaking, he was guided by masters such as R.B. Bhaskaran during his academic years, and later by stalwarts like Devraj Dakoji, at the Garhi studios, Delhi, supported by a research grant from the Lalit Kala Akademi.

Looking back at his etching prints from the 80s, in which he developed intricate atmospheres with the use of interlocking imagery— circles, triangles, arcs, grids, waves - one can follow the inherent elements marking his visual language that he has carried forward and experimented with. The contouring, depth and volume that were purely visual constructs of linear and tonal variation have now acquired a physical dimension; the emotive and cognitive articulation embedded within his symbolic narratives and intense pen-and-ink drawings have now found new form in the minimalism of the white paper constructions.

“Every material I’ve touched—zinc plate, charcoal, vector line, pen nib, pigment, or cut paper—has taught me something essential. That geometry is not a structure; it is a language. That figuration is not about the body; it is about the residue of memory. That abstraction is not detachment; it is often the most intimate form of truth”, he says.

...Several turning points in Shankar’s journey and creative career impacted his processes, and generated organic shifts within his visual language and methodology of making. Working with the Indo-German GTZ (Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) project as a graphic designer in the early 90s, he taught himself several software(s) and became one of the first artists in Chennai to explore independent vector-based digital art, that he pursued with deep interest; this continues to reflect in his current series. Subsequently, his experiences at Edinburgh Printmakers and Newcastle University on a Charles Wallace grant for printmaking, and his sojourns at Cholamandal artists village outside Chennai, and in rural Kerala, influenced and expanded his art practise in varied ways. While the medium and processes have altered, the underlying philosophy and formal discipline of his visual language remain deeply connected to the truth and meaning he pursues, formally and conceptually.

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