Thrice as nice

Three artists, each with a style of his own, show their work at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery.

The 16th art exhibition in the Vivid Palette series is all about abstracts, portraits and mixed-medium paintings. Here is a brief on each artist and his works:

B.G. Magendran

The formless deities of rural Tamil Nadu find shape in Magendran's abstract paintings. The Sola Karuppu who is worshipped under a tree, the guardian deity smeared with kungumam…they are all done with lines and bright colours. Magendran has also incorporated jute fabrics in his works. An art director by profession, Magendran has worked in movies such as Baashha, Muthu and Veera. He is currently working in director Vasanth's Moondru Per Moondru Kaadhal. But no matter how busy he is, he makes sure he finds time to draw. “Art forms a major part of my life,” he says. “Even if I return home from work at 2 a.m., I sit for an hour to paint. It's important that one practises. After all, sithiramum kai pazhakkam.”

S.V. Prabhuram

Chennai-based Prabhuram is a full-time artist. He has done mixed medium paintings. Prabhuram has cut out pictures from magazines and worked around them. Photos of a shop in a Spanish marketplace, an old park in Rajasthan, the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai, and more have been transformed into paintings. Prabhuram feels that children interested in art should be encouraged to pursue it. “Like physical education, the government should give importance to art. There must be compulsory examinations for drawing at least once a year. This way, we can identify talent. Also, exams will encourage children to take art seriously. They will look at paintings, refer magazines and even practise.” Youngsters are interested in art, he adds.

“During an exhibition in Coimbatore a few years ago, a little boy liked my painting of a thinnai veedu. He kept standing in front of it.” Since his father couldn't afford it, Prabhuram gave it to him for free.

M. Ravichandran

Artist Ravichandran is the curator of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Ooty. He has travelled extensively around the tribal settlements in the Nilgiris and studied the lives of people there, who have found their way into his art works. Pointing to a painting of a Paniyan woman, Ravichandran explains how the women place circular plates of beeswax in their ears. “They are wrapped in palm leaves and are sometimes studded with red pearls.” Ravichandran keenly observes his subjects' features. “I come back home and do spot sketches and later develop them on canvas,” he says.

He has also painted kurumba tribals and gond women, whom he says “have an innocence about them.” A native of Kovilpatti, Ravichandran also draws bull motifs as they appear in ancient rock art.