It was a proud moment for Malli Venkataramanaiah and Malli Sharadamma as they walked around Minaaz Art Gallery in Jubilee Hills. It was their son Chiranjeevi Malli’s solo show at the gallery and the couple, hailing from Yachavaram near Nellore. couldn’t contain their excitement. “My parents work in the agriculture fields and they are happy that I have worked hard to be an artist,” says Chiranjeevi.
At Minaaz Art Gallery, the exhibits take you to the lanes and bylanes of a city. Think of any street in an urban environment and you see all the elements in the painting — a milkman pedalling away on a cycle carrying his milk cans, people walking and an electric pole with wires precariously hanging. .
Chiranjeevi was basically a designer but found his true calling in art. “Once my lecturer told me: ‘Man is not permanent. Art is permanent. Even if you cannot eat on a day that is okay but do not miss painting.’ I felt inspired and started painting and have not missed even a single day,” he says. There are a few images of Naga sadhus too in the exhibition. Chiranjeevi had gone to Kumbh mela in February and did his dissertation on Naga sadhus.
In terms of technique, Chiranjeevi likes to do a rough sketch of the surrounding he wants to paint and sometimes he even takes a photograph of the place to draw it later.
The artist feels elated when he talks about his award at the Peace and Friendship painting competition conducted by Asa Bhanu Japan Centre. Now he is working as a drawing teacher at a school in Jubilee Hills. “I plan to do my MFA next year from Baroda or Central University. Till then I want to teach art to children. If you interact with children, your ideas will improve.”
The exhibition is on at the gallery till September 27.
