Three young women who look like sisters spend a relaxed morning together, one doing the other’s hair while the third reads the day’s events out of a paper. Elsewhere, a cat takes a quiet nap at the windowsill and then there is a striking portrait of the great Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi.
These are some of the works of self-taught artist B.B. Tenance. A group of village women walk back to their huts after finishing their morning chores. While the women appear as just silhouettes, the tall green trees and the brick roofs of the huts bring out the typical rural countryside. This is what K Dhanasekaran likes to portray.
Anand Balusamy prefers the attractive pose of a Bharatanatyam dancer and the blooming of water lilies in his paintings.
Simple, realistic portrayals of country life seem to be the main focus of five artists from Chennai, whose paintings form part of the silver jubilee series of the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery at Avanashi Road. Eighty of their paintings will be on display at the gallery. This exhibition is the first in the city for them. They are primarily graphic designers and storyboard artists working for the past few years in Chennai and have painted in their spare time. The paintings have been made using mostly water colours and oil colours, with a few pencil sketches of famous personalities being the exception. The sketch of Bharatiyar is rather life-like, and you can feel his intense gaze on you from across the room.
The works of Ezhil Fernandes and G. Manimaran focus on the rural landscape, with his bright hues of colour catching the eye. Cows are shown grazing away in the fields as the rural women return home after a hard day’s work in the fields.
The exhibition is on at the gallery till June 18 between 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. The paintings are also for sale. Prices range between Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 15,000. For details, call 0422-2574110.
