Elusive Illusions
every human heart is a pearl
if you seek the beloved, do not break anyone's heart
- Baba Fareed
The Sufi intent and the mystic fervor in the watercolors and canvasses of Madan Lal arrest your gaze for more than a moment. He quotes Punjabi poetry, is a poet himself and juxtaposes verses on his frames to reaffirm the poignancy of poetry in the aesthetic criterion of creation. 'Sufi poets use a great deal of complex symbolic expression; these poets use the straight idiom of their people. Their poetry is composed in lyrical forms set to the tunes of local folk music. Their mission is to reach the hearts of ordinary men and women' says Madanlal. 'My works are about such ordinary men and women.' The similes and metaphors that he employs are drawn from the vocations of the largely rural people, their domestic industries, kinship relations and social customs. The association of the words Sufi and Sufism with the English usage of the term mysticism often leaves the impression on those not too well acquainted with the Sufi way that it is some kind of a mysterious cult centered around enigmatic figures called Sufis. This impression may be reinforced if one approaches Sufism as a system of abstract ideas, but when encountered in real life the Sufi way turns out to be a body of practical wisdom or knowledge employed by people to live harmoniously with one another, with their natural environment and the world beyond. In contrast to the monolithic and doctrinaire projection of orthodox Islam the Sufi tradition exists in a rich variety of real life expressions blended with local cultures, and their semiotics, imagery and symbolism. The way of the Sufi can be best understood by looking at how it is articulated within a specific culture, country and climate.
Magical Rustle
In some ways this show is a reflection of the translated allegory of the whole system of creation and the dictums of everyday living. No matter how deeply you look into the painting, no matter how lithe and light the forms get, the more distant perspectives the figures become, no matter how cursory the repetitive the rows of hybrid forms, Madan Lal can still convince you that the detail keeps on going, the deeper the eye travels. This is a beguiling illusion. He can leave you feeling like a fly tapping against a window pane. His paintings can be as captivating as a dream and you can will yourself into acceptance of their reality, imagine them suddenly breaking into a mystic evanescent movement. You just have to let yourself go. About his work Samyog he says, 'The love of another human being and divine love are not mutually exclusive. The love of another human being can be conceived as a bridge that leads to love of the Divine.'
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But one mustn't mistake this painted world for the real one. The images Madan Lal describes are often rotated or enlarged for dramatic effect; they are embellished or brought into proximity with one another with no regard for superficial truth. He can intimate what goes on out of sight. He also sees life as a poet would, and probably expected to do so. A large part of his creation rests in his ability not just to render hybrid images and the power of silent dialogues with seeming accuracy, but also to cast the images, the mystic mood and the populace in a believable light. What he does not do, however, is accentuate atmospheric perspective, or pay much attention to the vagaries of weather and its fitful light. In his works, the atmosphere is always clear, the river of life sparkling. You can think oflife on the far shore. The light is mild, the clouds are suggestive, it never rains. At the same time, he tells us, what it must have felt like to walk through life on a summer evening. He recalls Sufi beliefs and ethos. According to the Sufi belief, God as Truth and Beauty is the Eternal Reality. Eventually emanated from this Reality the infinite physical forms found in the universe today ranging from the lowliest of all creatures to the most elevated saints, prophets and deities of all religions. In that understanding we find divergence between public perception and private conviction, and we also see that there are fragmentary references that are neverfully revealed.
Freedom of sensation
The drawings done in the watercolours present the understanding of abstraction and the integral importance of the dulcet softness in the figures portrayed. The elements become interplay between illusion and allegory. It is as if this figure is cradled within the space of the canvas and sometimes assumes meditative dimensions. The vista of Madan Lal's imagination is indeed wider than what we see and he draws into the conception of what is symbolic and what is numinous, while also representing the impulses of the present and the illusionary ambient. This is an unfolding of sensations; it is the freedom of the intuition that drives the hand that creates. They are timeless pauses that have precipitated out of inner perceptions. The alchemy of the allegory distills the symbol of creation. This is a witness to the present and the past. Beauty lies in the choice of colour and the mutations that are suggested. Colour becomes a sensuous source of affirmation and you end up with a vibrant transitional feel that speaks to us about artistic investigations in time.
Art Critic, Asian Age