Srujan 2011, an exhibition of paintings by Dr. K. Prahlad at MUSE Art Gallery, Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre is indeed special as it takes place about a week after M.F. Husain has passed away. One stops to think of whether the artist will also make it into the gallery of all-time big artists.
Browsing through the 74 paintings of this Sr. Medical (Retd) – South Central Railway, the greatness is there to see, in his simplicity and passion. His sincerity and attention to detail almost makes the creatures he paints breathe before you. He transfers that mood and feeling for what he sees into something for the beholder to also enjoy and relate to.
There are quite a few which are eye-catching. In The Sculptor the concentration of the face and eyes of an old man with his glasses on his nose, had the attention to detail which make us feel that the paintings are not mass produced. The Village woman captures the simple, rustic life of a woman going about her work.
The painting titled Thirsty is a lovely brown and blue picture which would go well in any drawing room, as a thing of beauty for guests to ponder and meditate on.
An untitled painting shows a woman's figure made into an object of finesse and grace, while Temple Entrance depicts the bricks and stones of the arch and start of the building.
In Mother Teresa Prahlad has captured the essence of the simplicity of this great woman, in the wrinkles on her lined face he has caught her toil, and the white and blue sari is all there in a radiant embodiment of this saint of the poor.
Boat shires is one of the many simple landscapes that are part of the 74, but this particular one relaxes and enshrines more beauty than the others. Landscape has a simple street in Hyderabad with its balconies of the old city, and a few autorickshaws parked in front of the
Finally, the best painting of all is Daughter of toil. An oil on canvas, this one shows the face of a woman with strands of hair escaping from her tied up bun, after her toil, small rings on her three fingers and bracelet, orange flower in her hair to match the orange border of her
All the paintings are well framed and beautifully mounted in the gallery. One admires the time it took to do this, and also to know that the colours are not garish and would match any upholstery, as something of power and dignity, talking of everyday life.
