I believe that certain images or motifs have an intensity, that is apprehended on three levels. First, physically (which is to say visually), then emotionally, and intellectually. There is an incubation period, when the image gathers elements, and creates its own pictorial space. And then there is the process of transformation, which is the process of painting. I try to actualize my mental vision of a painting, but more important than the details is to capture the picture`s intensity" ---- Baiju Parthan. Baiju Parthan is considered a trailblazer of intermedia art in India. He has attempted to discover the mysterious internal universe in his paintings.
Baiju Parthan started his career as an engineer. By 1974 he was drawn into the world of fine arts. He was very much moved by the movements of Impressionism and Expressionism. To him "Painting gave me self worth". He went to Goa to study fine arts. During his course in painting he came in contact with the final inflow of Westerners who were coming to Goa in search of enlightenment. It was the time between 1978 and 1983. The inflow of Westerners consisted of Germans, Brits and Italians, people mostly from Europe.
Afterwards Baiju Parthan started learning Indian mystical arts by inquiring into tantra, ritual arts and Indian mythology. In 1980 Parthan began to work as a writer cum illustrator. After his return to the world of paintings, he started experimenting with the imagery of mandalas and Tibetan tangas. Influences of post-modern theorists have been found in his paintings. As he interprets, `recontextualize things from my immediate environment. The post-modern theorists have accepted the localisation of reality. We`re now reconciled to the idea of an individual reality. Art is about local realities. Personally, I live in a post-colonial concept of space. The world exists as a flux`.
Some selected exhibitions of Baiju Parthan are--- in 2007 `Liquid Memory + Rant`, organised by Vadehra Art Gallery at Okhla Gallery, New Delhi; in 2006 `Source Code`, Museum Art Gallery, organised by Art Musings, Mumbai; in 2005 `Vapour`, New Media Prints,
The Guild Gallery, Mumbai; in 2002 Gallery Espace, New Delhi; in 2002 Fine Art Company, Mumbai; in 1999 `Brahma`s Homepage - Paintings, Objects and Cyber stuff`, Lakeeren Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai; in 1997 Lakeeren Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai; in 1997 Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore; in 1997 Apparao Galleries, Chennai; in 1996 Chaze Gallery, Goa; in 1992 Masterpiece Gallery, New Delhi; in the years 1992,93,95 Sophia Duchesne Gallery, Mumbai; for the year 2007-08 `Polyphonies`, Gallery Hosp, Tirol - Osterreich, Austria; in 2007 `Young Guns`, Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA), Mumbai; in 2006 `Altered Realities`, Gallery Arts India, New York; in 2006 `Strangeness`, Anant Art Gallery, Kolkata; in 2005 `Paths of Progression`, organised by Saffronart and Bodhi Art, New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, New York; in 2005 `Alchemy`, organised by Art Musings, Mumbai; in 2005 `Kaam`, organized by Gallery Arts India, New York; in 2004 `Along The X - Axis : Video Art from India and Pakistan`, Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi; in 2003 `Art on Paper`, Royal College of Art, London; in 2001 `Indian Contemporary Art - Seven Degrees`, organised by Saffronart and Apparao Galleries, Laguna, California; in 2000 `Family Resemblances : Nine Approaches To A Mutable Self`, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai; in 2000 `Intersections : Seven Artistic Dialogues Between Abstraction and Figuration`, The Guild, Mumbai; in 2000 `Exile and Longing, Artists from Kerala`, Lakeeren Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai; in 2000 `Icons of the Millennium`, organised by Lakeeren Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai, Nehru Centre, Mumbai; in 2000 `Art and Technology `The Magazine Show`, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai; in 1999 `Images and Ideas`, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai; in 1998 `Gegenwartskunst aus Indien`, Exhibition of Indian Contemporary Art (The Harsh Goenka Collection), Leverkusen, Germany; in 1997 `50 Years of Indian Contemporary Art`, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; in 1996 `Within The Frame`, Indian Contemporary Art, organized by Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong; in 1996 `Chamatkara`, Indian Contemporary Art`, organised by Whitley`s Gallery, London with Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata; in 1996 `Four Visions`, The Gallery, Hong Kong; in 1995 `Duo Show`, Sarina Tang Gallery, New York; in 2005 Arad Biennale, Romania; in 2001 Residency at Seven Degrees Gallery, Laguna, California, USA- August-September 2001, Arranged by Saffronart and Apparao Galleries; in 1999, 9th Asian Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh; in 2005 NRLA - Live Art Festival , Midland, Perth , Australia; in 2005 `FLOW - Instant Karma Algorithm - 02`, Interactive Digital Video Data Projection, New Moves Live Art Festival, Perth; in 2004 `FLOW - Instant Karma Algorithm - 01`, Interactive Digital Video Data Projection, New Moves Live Art Festival, Glasgow; in 2004 `CODE`, as part of `ZOOM ! - Art in Contemporary India`, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal; in 2003 `FEED - What You See Is What You Get - 01`, Khoj International Artists Workshop, Bangalore; in 2002 `A Diary of the Inner Cyborg`, (ADIC) organized by Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, as part of `Under Construction: New Developments in Asian Art`, Japan Foundation Forum, Tokyo; in 2002 `A Diary of the Inner Cyborg`, (ADIC), Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich, London; in 2002 `CODE`, Interactive Digital Installation, as part of `Kapital und Karma : Recent Positions in Indian Art`, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; in 2002 `Necessary Illusions with 24 Cups of Coffee`, Interactive Projection, New Moves Live Art Festival, Glasgow, UK; in 2001 `Leap Into and Across`, a Collaborative Video Installation, National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai; in 2001 `A Diary of the Inner Cyborg : Asystole - Disrupting the Flow`, an Interactive Digital Installation, Fine Art Company, Mumbai; in 2000 `Necessary Illusions with 24 Cups of Coffee`, Lakeeren Contemporary Art Gallery, Mumbai; in 2000 `CODE`, Interactive Digital Installation, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai; in 2000 `The Crossing`, as part of installation for `Making an Entrance`, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai.