Born and brought up in the by-lanes of Pardi, a quaint hamlet situated a few hours away from the throbbing and pulsating Mumbai, Somu grew up and spent his teenage years during a time when life meditated on simple and quality living and laid back teenage years.Change is only constant. Soon enough, time passed and urbanization spread rapidly in the neighboring towns and cities. There was a sudden transformation in the social and economic backdrop in and around the place he had lived in.
As an artist everything we see and experience influences our work either directly or indirectly. The influences and trajectories may differ, but for the one who infuses it all within, life is full of moments of epiphanies and discoveries. People interpret events through their own life perspectives, experiences and historical contexts and have their own unique viewpoint. For Somu, the contradiction of time during his teenage years and the later years consisting of more urbanized and demanding lifestyle as the point of departure for his work.
For the Japanesethe idea of Ukiyo-e or the ‘Floating World’ has been a subject for many artists to explore the transient nature of life and everything within it. While exploring the thought they also believe inHonne and tatemae which are Japanese words that describe the contrast between a person's true feelings and desires (本音hon'ne, "true sound") and the behavior and opinions one displays in public (建前tatemae, "built in front", "façade").Somu’s works literally are an insight into this duality of life. He believes in the contradiction in demands of time, relationships, and also from oneself.Somu believes that we build an insincere ‘tatamae’ around us and in the process,intentionally and unintentionally ‘brand’our ‘lives’, feelings, emotions and everything associated with it. The purpose of our existence remains at mere surface level having lost the integrity of honesty and depthour true inner feelings.
The thought gets translated into not just in his forms which are converted from 3 dimensional to 2-dimensional ‘cutouts’ but also in his expertise of handling the material. Having closely experienced industrialization, his material prowess deliberates on the metallic textures as a departure into his thought of rust and decay of the inner self and soul and the more ornate and decorative textures rendered on the cutouts of the subjectemphasize superficiality. Through his forms, colours and textures the ‘honne’ and the ‘tatemae’ are intricately juxtaposed to give rise to a narrative which cannot be objective and may invite responses which are based on complex trajectories of personal historical situations.