Barot sums it up “Your surroundings construct you”
Sanjay Barot has the tendency to create works in a large scale which suit his subject and facilitate his process of working. His creations are characterised by a deeply nurtured passion for layering with colours and masking with purposeful intent.
Every canvas is enclosed with a wooden frame (differently designed for each) that has been lovingly treated with images, colour, layers and texture. These frames work with a dual purpose: as frames of construction for the work and also as the entry point of the society that Barot has painted for his viewers. The artist asserts that these can be read as the ‘final impressions’ that have been culled out from the chaos in the canvas.
However, it is only upon drawing closer to the canvas that one can experience the interesting interplay of man and his moments, architectural forms and objects from his beloved hometown in Kapadvanj and sociopolitical incidents that have had a bearing on the artist.
The chaos on the canvas is patterned by bold lines that have been layered almost a hundred times along with passages that provide space for the playing out of truths that are personal to the artist. And some, we as viewers may empathise with. Barot’s inspiration, since his college days, have been hoardings of advertisements and walls that hold advertisements and announcers only to shed them and wear them repeatedly. The pasting of these and tearing off the same, over time, gives the wall its character. His process of working is certainly influenced by this.
“For me, the structure is at the core of everything, animate and inanimate. It is this structure that serves as the balance for behaviour and survival. Whether it is the structure of an individual or society, these are all complex. Unlike the structure of a house or a bottle or a table, that have defined balances, complex structures like societies, countries, religious factions are all about complex layers visible only in part”, says Barot.
His works attract the viewers with their looming, rod-like structures and slowly draw them close to engage them with the details that create the larger picture.