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A new arena for expression
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The inaugural exhibition at Shalini Biswajit's Forum Art Gallery in Chennai today, marks her maiden venture in bringing together 19 reputed Indian artists. The selected works can be broadly categorised as abstracts that are mythological and figurative in content, says ASHRAFI S. BHAGAT.
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J.M.S. Mani...rural charm and poetic romanticism.
THE art scene in Chennai is set to become vibrant with the entry of a new gallery. Forum Art Gallery, which was started by Shalini Biswajit in 1997, marked a beginning for this art lover who decided to provide a platform for artistic expression and promote contemporary Indian art as well as young and upcoming artists. Today she moves into her new premises covering an area of 4,000 sq. feet. The ideology behind this venture is to ensure "a platform to express, deliver and communicate artistic expression". The inaugural exhibition marks her maiden venture in bringing together reputed and internationally acclaimed artists from all over the country. Shalini is an artist and sculptor in her own right and reinforcing this is her background in art — she is a post-graduate in Fine Arts from the Department of Fine Arts, Stella Maris College, Chennai.
Nineteen artists feature in the exhibition and include Achuthan Kudallur, K.M. Adimoolam, R.B. Bhaskaran, S. Nandagopal, K. Muralidharan, Thota Tharani, A.V. Ilango, S.G. Vasudev, Yusuf Arakkal, Jayasri Burman, Laxma Goud, Sisir Sahana, Manu Parekh, Paresh Maity, J.M.S. Mani, Sarla Chandra, K.S. Rao, Dipali Bhattacharya and T. Vaikuntam. The selected works can be broadly categorised as abstracts, mythological and figurative in content.
The abstractions of Achuthan, Adimoolam and Thota are highly individualistic and reflect their persona. Adimoolam attempts to translate the moods of Nature metaphorically as human emotions. The salient features defining his creative contours are the cascading planes of colours and the broad brick strokes applied with a palette knife. Achuthan's abstractions, on the other hand, are derivative of cultural signs that he transcribes primarily through colours. His individuated technique engenders for him a process of continuous engagement with diverse coloured shapes as he holds them in the tranquillity of his mind to have them descend on his canvases to take on a valency of calligraphic nature. A brilliant colourist in the calibre of both Adimoolam and Achuthan, Thota's abstracts have a spontaneous quality and are energetic and charged with dynamism, especially in his coloured lines as they swing across or regress to become mere points or dots.
The Indian mind is alive with fables and myths as her whole culture rests on this "mythopia". The works of K. Muralidharan, Sarla Chandra, Jayasri Burman and S. Nandagopal, eloquently express this concept through modernity's lenses. Muralidharan, in his Hanuman, has transcended the organic rhythm of his earlier canvases to become geometric and structured in his figurative imagery. A brilliant colourist, Muralidharan, in the tradition of the Madras School, has his canvases reflecting interesting detail. The dominant form of Hanuman remains the focus, reinforced further by its colour against an equally vibrant and charged red. Sarla Chandra allows a free reign to her imagination mediated through mythology. The world of Nature is dominant in her oeuvre as verdant leaves and pretty flowers enhance the decorative appeal of her organically rhythmic compositions. Jayasri's jewel-like watercolours are a celebration of life, exuding the warmth of oranges and yellows. Her oval-rectangular format enhances the morphed mermaid images to lend a mythic feel. S. Nandagopal, the only participating sculptor in the show, brings alive the space through his flat and two-dimensional relief sculptures with interesting themes like the bird catcher and Hanuman. The latter work impresses with its dynamic form having fractional representation in the manner of ancient Egyptian conventions. The inherent decorative appeal which is implied through linear welded forms is enhanced through bright enamel colours. The vocabulary of Nandagopal remains ever vibrant with a sense of mythical narration.
K. Muralidharan...geometric and sturctured.
Modern Indian art has been eclectic, sourcing its concepts and ideas by reinventing tradition or redefining its regional art forms to configure itself in the works of a large number of contemporary artists. This feature becomes relevant in the works of Manu Parekh, Paresh Maity, A.V. Ilango and Sisir Sahana. Parekh's composition is canonical, miniature on a macro scale, especially in the organisation and structuring of space. The vibrant reds with their tints and shades dominate the frame as minute decorative details add texture to the whole.
A surreal quality rents the space particularly in one half of the composition that seems at odds with the other which is manifested with the domed roof. Maity's geometricity combines with a sense of oriental feel, the female form reminiscent of the Japanese Geisha replete with fan and erotic overtures in her semi-nudity. The dynamic energy of Ilango's earlier canvases of bovine forms and musicians is replaced by a sense of contemplative serenity. In his seated female form, minimally defined against a background of dominant brown, he dynamically balances this by a white bird. Sahana evokes a surreal quality in his human imagery and isolated independent forms like the eerie snake and marching ants.
The figurative Indian tradition that is markedly strong is not lost on the contemporary artists as it had provided a spring well of inspiration to the artists of the nationalist phase in the early decades of the 20th Century. The art works of J.M.S. Mani, Dipali Bhattacharya, Laxma Goud, K.S. Rao and Vaikuntam depict Indian women with her alluring charm, sensuousness and obvious sexuality. While Dipali implies these characteristics, Goud prominently displays them candidly in her pose and gaze. Mani's painting exudes a sense of rural charm and poetic romanticism in the seated woman that includes the decorative elements inspired from folk art tradition. K.S. Rao, in his colour manipulations and textured background, arouses a lyricism and a poetic quality with subtle hues and expressive forms.
The two veterans of the Madras Art Movement, S.G. Vasudev and R.B. Bhaskaran, bear close affinity in their painted expressions.Vasudev, in his canvases, has cleverly amalgamated his "Theatre of Life" series with still life. The ubiquitous face as well as the proscenium are the lingering elements that integrate with still life, largely reinventing this concept with different perception. Bhaskaran, in his still life paintings, carries forth his preoccupation with form and space. And within the modernist sensibility, he redefines the concept of still life, subjecting his experiences of forms and shapes as he plays, explores, and manipulates them to evolve his intellectualisation of space.
Paresh Maity...Oriental feel.
Yusuf Arrakal has moved on in his creative expression and mediates through the virtual reality to create simulations that bear the mark of his originality in its selection and computation.
Though largely dissimilar, the works of all the artists have a commonality between them and that is a strong sense of colour organisation, a strength of techniques and predilection towards creating texture, that marks it as a hallmark not only of Indian modern painting but also of its contemporary practice.
The exhibition will be on from today (September 22) to October 15.
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