To those who do not understand what retinal art is? Here is the definition according to Marcel Duchamp- The term retinal art also refers to modern art pertaining to geometric designs that create a sense of movement or optical illusions. It is also termed as Optical Art movement or Op-Art. The movement lost popularity by the end of the 1960s.
If there is something important in the highly contemporary arts that are developed between the 90s to the 21st century then that is the core choice of the artist. There is something in Vikash Kalra’s art that makes them more real than the illusion. It is creating something fuzzy yet clear layer over the works of the masters. They are indeed inspired, recollected, and imagined memory of the artist but they are not stopping at the single level of the art revolution.
It is the second decade of the 21st century and even in this modernized and electronically influenced world, the art with the real heart is prevailing against all odds. They are completing the full revolution of the initial point of intersection. They are indeed different from the renaissance of the 1900s paintings but Vikash’s artworks are defining the real motivation of the new world reign.
Comparison with single-stroke art and more focused and deliberately fine art is absolutely unnecessary. It will be like comparing apples with oranges but they both contain their core value. In another sense, this retinal art by Vikash, Souza or Picasso is something containing very definite core value but their understanding by the populace is underdeveloped.
It needs a mature mind and even a mature heart to understand these strokes. While these arts are hard stroke art and do not possess multiple layers but compatible in conveying the real meaning. Art with deliberate and careful brushes is beautiful for the eyes and compatible for the audience with less understanding of artistic representations.
There is something that makes these arts more compatible with the modern sense is that they are freely moving without any restriction. We cannot define them through a movement but we can actually enjoy them, feel them, and most important we can call them ‘one of a kind’ arts.
Vikash’s artworks are more compatible in the modern sense without boundaries than to be freehand and deliberate fine arts with the focus on beauty.
Vikash Kalra is a self-taught artist and writer based in New Delhi whose work has been exhibited across India and is held in several private and corporate collections.