Friday, February 13, 2009

Portrait of an artist

IT'S SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2005

EVENING POST

Portrait of an artist as a visual sculptor

Nazeem Beegum
Sharjah

Shifting from mathematical patterns to sublime creativity, Shamsudeen Moosa’s works demand world’s attention for its intricate design and the artistic plunge. An artist who does not want to be a part of any school or click or genre Moosa simply infuses his intellectual as well as creative thoughts into his work. A man of multitudinous talents who is against the glorification of art craves for the ways to find the absoluteness.

The unsettled mind of Moosa does not fathom man- made dimensions. So going far above the dimensions he pursues for absoluteness which in turn take the shapes of paint- ings, sculptures, photographs and even brain teasers. Searching for hyper dimension he tries to multiverse the universe in an intellectual way mixed with aestheticism. And it becomes difficult to niche him as an artist or a brainee for both elements merges in him. Both elements combine in his sculptures which makes them sublime and intellectual. For him material is immaterial. He chooses anything from a foil paper to fibre glass to vent out his artistic pursuit.

The best examples are his game puzzles. They demarcate the line between an architect and a sculptor. With him the fundamental mathematical forms become aesthetic architectural structures which are to be dissected and assembled.

One such puzzle is octahedron .As the very name suggests they are 8 sided but with 6 corners. Seems like a star the octahedron occupies a structure within itself which gets dismantled once it is open.All one has to do is fill up the empty volumes with in the pieces and rearrange it to the original shape. Set in innumerable, more than a trillon, permutations it commands both intellectual and creative insight to delve into this puzzle and come out successful.

Like octahedron he has prototypes of more than a dozen puzzles named and unnamed with him such as Aryabhatta, which is named after the first Indian satellite, magic tapes etc.

Don’t praise him as a multitudinous genius. He says, there is no need for glorifying art An artist is just like any other person doing their own jobs. And the compartmentalisation of various art forms is just media propagation. Earlier art was utilitarian. The rulers of then times needed art to fill up the spaces in their majestic palaces. I can`t take it as a pro- fession. And it is not talent alone. Talent is universal. Could everyone plough the field? Could everyone chop wood? Like that some paint or sculpt or write. That is all. The thing is it should be nurtured. And art schools are damaging the creativity of children. It oppresses spontaneity. Originality will be lost and will become in groups, schools and clicks. It limits the freedom of artist. Instead of an artist they end up as art critic or a lecturer.”

Whether it is sculptures or game puzzles they come in hyper dimensional patterns. He has an answer for his hyper dimensional patterns and thinking. "Dimension is a human concern. Wherever we look it is 90 degreeness. But possibilities are abundant in 60 degrees. Bubbles, domes have different geometrical patterns. That sustains and implies. Flowers bloom in different ways. Without seeing all these basic things art is incomprehensible." Moosa’s hyper dimensional notion comes profusely in his sculpture called Big Bang which won him the most prestigious art recognition called the Kerala Lalitakala Academy Award from his homeland Kerala. And the very sculpture accompanies him wherever he goes. ln short he sees the universe itself in his sculpture.

Slotting and comparing human abilities is out of Moosa’s realm. In his soul searching quest to find the absoluteness his quizzical brain and heart shrouds the aura of an artist and that of a scientist. "Anybody with the skill and patience can do it. We are made up of variety of things borrowed from here and there. There is no such thing called individual.Because our self is not true. But there may be some absoluteness. And I just try for that"

The intricate game puzzles are just the offshoot of this notion alone. These puzzles are meant both for children and elders alike. Having more than a dozen of game puzzles which he has started making 15 years back he could easily have made money by proper marketing. We have had many puzzles since ancient times-the old Chinese Tangrams,the Soma Cube, Stein House Cube and the one in recent times Rubic Cube. After Rubic Cube there didn’t come any other puzzle which won international attention.Moosa’s octahedron and many other puzzles can definitely give an answer to this vacuum.

Out of this urge he has tried once for a patent, but lack of money drew him back forever. Now he just shows them to the visitors who are interested in the games or to his friends.

While his works authenticate mathematical possibility in art it simply implies that science is not rigid. Moosa loves to be called as virtual sculptor. All the patterns he visualizes take shape in his computer. There the limitations vanish, and the material becomes immaterial. His passion is for habitable structures. The innumerable monumental structure he has designed shows how styles can be adopted to make them user friendly and habitable. The virtual sculptures make him say they are failed structures because they haven’t taken concrete shapes. He has made prototypes and designs of many monuments on the eve of the new millennium way back in 2000. Belonging neither to a school or cult he is a free artist he could easily have won accolades with his innumerable virtual and non virtual sculptures had he tried. That’s Moosa. Satistied in his own terrain of work and thoughts.

It should be remembered that he was the first man to begin the Silent Valley Protest which got world wide attention for the preservation of rich bio diversity. With his sculptures and paintings he did a silent protest all along Kerala way back in late 70’s.And has traveled all along north lndia on foot and reached the Mighty Himalayas at last. Although it seems anarchic he has a vision in his life. To know the ultimate without any bondage. And that moves him ahead still, quite truly not in a materialistic way, but in a sublime level.

Link to Nazeem Beegum's great Blogs: http://nazeembeegum.blogspot.com/

2 comments:

Shamsudhin Moosa said...

Flowers bloom in different ways. Without seeing all these basic things art is incomprehensible.

NazeemOnline said...

Thank you for posting my article. Its today I saw it.
-nazeem