The ongoing art exhibition ‘Solidarity Forever’ with nearly 15 large canvases is an absolute attention grabber.
The art works by city-based artist John Devraj and American artists Kabu MB II and Zero Bey I are on display at the Chaya Art Gallery at Rangoli, M.G. Road Metro Station. The exhibition by the Artists United collective forces one to look at poignant artistic idioms that exhort peace, equality and justice, not forgetting their strokes on anti-war and poverty “that have become national diseases.”
John is gripped with helplessness and anger, while he explains is the background behind his ‘War against Poverty’ canvas. “I couldn’t dare encounter the reality ingrained in the life of the deprived, especially when I saw a woman lying unconscious and naked at Kazra railway station in Uttar Pradesh. Our budgets for grand nuclear weapons seem pointless when the stark reality hits you,” he says.
Kabu MB II from California, who in 46 years has painted nearly 1,000 paintings, says, “Nobody can suppress an artist’s voice. Any kind of inequality and suppression I see finds expression in my work. We don’t walk by problems; a heightened awareness helps us address them.”
As a member of the U.S. Army and having seen the cost of conflict in wars up close, Zero Bey says, “I choose to be a voice against restrictive ideologies and this is reflected in my work.”
The ‘Artists for Peace’ will also sprinkle their art with mime and music on Saturday at 6 p.m. The exhibition concludes on January 4.
