Good art works are always a good means of income for artists. But rarely does an artist finds himself in a situation in which he has to sell his art works to save his head.
Artist K.Mohan Kumar, popularly known as Paris Mohan Kumar, honoured by Unesco in 1988 as one of the 40 great artists in the world, is in such a situation now, thanks to the blade mafia in the State.
An exhibition of the artist’s paintings has been organised at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery in Kozhikode with the sole purpose of raising funds to pay off the mafia.
Having spent 20 years in Paris and exhibiting his paintings all around Europe, Mohan Kumar returned to Kerala two decades ago. Horrified by the destruction of biodiversity here, he sensitised the public on the importance of conserving nature and biodiversity through his paintings. His green activism included buying agricultural land close to forests and letting the forest spread into it. He is also an ardent promoter of organic farming. The artist fell into the trap of the blade mafia after he gave two cheques to a person in Kanhangad to save two friends from Delhi, but forgot to collect it back after the issue was settled. Now, the person has booked a case against him for cheating and threatens to confiscate his property. He paid off Rs.5 lakh but the mafia has not relented.
The artist had approached the Home Ministry against the blade mafia and was told to register a complaint with the Kanhangad police under Operation Kubera.
Filmmaker and chairperson of the Nilambur municipality Aryadan Shoukath has come up in support of the artist. In a statement, he urged cultural activists to come forward to protect the house of the painter, who left Paris to promote art in Kerala.
The exhibition which began on Saturday features around 30 paintings of the artist. It will conclude on November 19.
