Artist Aji Kumar's painting of Kottakamboor, a tiny village in Munnar, is a blue-green landscape, with twinkling lights.“It shows the fireflies that buzz around the hills at dawn,” explains Aji Kumar as he walks me through his paintings exhibited at Art Houz art gallery. The show, titled Music of Soil, themed on Earth Day showcases works of several artists from parts of Kerala, New Delhi, and Puducherry, along with artists from the city. Aji Kumar has four paintings from his series on Munnar, where he spent the last five years, to be one with Nature. So there are spotted deer, elephants and towering hills on his canvas. “I painted at early dawn when the hills glow from the light of the fireflies, ”he says. He refers to himself as a nomad and declares that one has to read Nature in order to learn life lessons. “ I try and do that with my travels,” says Aji whose notable works include a series on Kumbh Mela.
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Closer home, Coimbatore-based artist Sahana Ramparakash’s works reflect earthy tones. “We have to remind ourselves to take care of earth and be in sync with it. We are after all a part of it,” she says. She has studied fine arts in Singapore and has collaborated with big names like Owais Hussain and Arun Kumar H.G. “The two abstract paintings represent a deep state of mediation, breathing, consciousness and my thought process. I don’t plan my paintings. I go with the flow.”
Music of Soul, a painting exhibition organised by Art Houz
The other city-based artist Jeeva of Chitrakala Academy has also shown his works. N.S. Mahesh who worked as an animation artist has a graphical approach . The myriad forms and shapes of Nature take on an abstract form in his work. “It is Nature that has inspired me to break away from the regular and try something new,” says Mahesh, who works with Namma Navakkarai, an NGO that restores water bodies. Sampath Kumar, also from Coimbatore, has combined installations with paintings. He shows earth as a melting ice cream to warn people to be responsible. Another painting is an aerial view of agriculture land conveying the importance of pesticide free food crops. He says, “We have the responsibility to hand over the earth in its purest form to the next generation.”
Music of Soul, a painting exhibition organised by Art Houz
Artist Muthiah Kasi from Auroville has a positive approach to conservation. He suggests all one has to do is take one step at a time “Cut down on one toxic element every day.” He also urges people to recycle and upcycle materials we use in our everyday life. Kasi’s commitment to conservation and environment does not stop with his art. He learnt organic farming, set up the Rain Water Harvesting structure for Shristhi village near Tindivanam, and is a graphic design artiste for Aurovile Earth Institute. Some of his paintings displayed here are done using soil. One of them called The birth or The Primordial Soup shows the moon churning the soup where life forms take shape. In another painting titled Connections, there are patches of earthy geometric shapes. “Each pattern, represents grandparents, parents and grand children. It mimics Nature, so all of them are similar,” he explains. There is one painting inspired by African tribal art and another canvas titled Dynamite Star that features a 16-sided star with a dash of real gold in the centre to depict the preciousness of Nature and her resources. His Metatron's cube is done with colour pencil and acrylic.
Other paintings on display include ink and dried leaf on paper, glazed terracota, and pencils and water colour on rice paper.
