‘‘Contours of the Soul’’ – A Sculptural Journey
Spanning three decades of relentless exploration and mastery, Parmod Mann’s sculptural oeuvre stands as a testament to the enduring power of form, texture, and material. Working with black marble, a medium that demands both precision and surrender, Mann wields the chisel and hammer with an intuitive force that breathes life into stone. His elongated figures be it in bronze or in black marble suspended between modernist refinement and primal energy, evoke a timeless dialogue between the past and the present, the abstract and the tangible.
Parmod Mann has carved a singular path in the world of sculpture, shaping black marble with a mastery that feels both instinctive and deliberate. With a chisel and hammer as his instruments, he coaxes elongated figures from stone-figures that stand at the intersection of modernism and primal expression. His work echoes the raw emotional depth of Rodin, not in direct homage, but in a shared commitment to revealing the essence of form, movement, and feeling. Mann’s sculptures be it in bronze or marble are at once grounded and ethereal.
A reticent and a reclusive artist, Mann would rather let his works do the talking. His sculptures-in bronze, marble and terracotta-as well as drawings and paintings, are redolent with the tremendous energy that he experiences while executing his art. He is hard put to explain what drives him, but his works exude all of that in the jagged lines and the imperfect contours of his bronzes, in the craggy and grainy textures of his marbles, and the earthy irregularity of his terracottas. His drawings and paintings, on the other hand, are more mellifluous and rhythmic, as if belonging to a world different from that of the three-dimensional art.
This retrospective brings together his sculptures in black marble and bronze, as well as his drawings, giving a glimpse of the wide range of the oeuvre of one of India’s most important contemporary modernists, that remains largely unknown to the wider audience.
