Around 30 drawings in pen and charcoal constitute the exhibition ‘Theatre-Sketches’ by Sajeev Keezhariyoor, an artist-cum-theatre personality.
The show, which began at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery here on Friday, is an attempt to render on canvas some of the scenes as well as images from the two plays produced by Kozhikode Nataka Gramam and directed by T. Suresh Babu. The plays ‘Lusia’ by M.U. Praveen and ‘Oru Gandhavicharam’ by Sasi Pookad will be staged at Kozhikode Town Hall at 7 p.m. on November 4 and 5 respectively and the exhibition of sketches based on these serves as a curtain-raiser to the plays.
This could be counted as a rare promotional event for theatre in Kerala as it presents two forms of art simultaneously.
Sajeev has been in theatre for a number of years now despite his brief stint as art student and artist. He has conducted art exhibitions but is in a tie-up with theatre for the first time. The black and white sketches and the use of charcoal and pen were deliberate, he says.
“Black and white has its own beauty and more intensity. Since I had to create more sketches in lesser time, charcoal was handy. Colouring each one of these would have been time consuming. These sketches will be rendered useless after the plays are staged. Hence, there was no point spending money on colours for such a temporary arrangement, Mr. Sajeev told The Hindu. The series on the play ‘Oru Gandhavicharam’ analyses various instances where ‘scent’ is important. The theme of the play is the contrast between natural scents and artificial perfumes and the modern man’s fixation with the latter. ‘Lusia’ is a compilation of characters from various plays of Samuel Beckett. The exhibition will conclude on November 5.
