Here is a ‘Feel of Aliens and Others’ exhibition sculpted out of terracotta, telling narratives surreal, haunting, and intimate. Aliens, particularly mesmerising alien eyes and faces, dominate sculptor Raja Arunodayam’s oeuvre of 1 ft. x 1 ft. squares, 2 ft. x3 ft. vases and urns, free standing birds and peacocks, sculpted leaf, flower and spider’s web, the innocence of children at play sculpted on a vase – and doe-eyed elephants in deep meditation!
The ‘Terracotta Exhibition’ rivets, with suggested stories as seen through the artist’s abstract imagination, be it a stark alien face with wild flying hair and contorted mouth, or a tall vase around which a two-headed sculpted snake curls itself.
As a study in contrast are contemporary vases and garden urns topped by traditional animal forms or ‘drishti’ masks. Or even a tubular jar spouting 20 to 30 deepams. The tales told might be vastly dissimilar but are held together by a unique sculptural language.
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On his fascination for aliens, and their penetrating eyes, he says, “I am fond of aliens because they represent something beyond our perceived phenomena.”
Arunodayam had his formal art training in the College of Fine Arts, Egmore, and now runs his own sculpture studio in Puducherry, where he trains locals, particularly women, in clay craft.
“I was influenced by H.R. Giger’s alien movies and see aliens and their power in everything around me. But I also seek inspiration in Nature’s bounty of flower, leaf and root as well as human beings, animals and so on,” says the sculptor. His work reflects this. A wall hanging of a man languidly stretched in an easy chair is a wonderful composition in abstraction. A tall urn featuring sculpted children playing is another delightful study. Turn it around and you have a delicately delineated spider’s web through which a man’s face is portrayed, struggle writ large on his face.
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Other terracotta squares show variously light coming into a room, leaf, fruit and flower juxtaposed against serrated backgrounds, and a 16-piece ensemble inspired by the roots of coconut trees. Not to be missed is a charming two feet alien in human form.
The pieces on display can be used on interior walls of homes and offices, in verandahs and gardens.
The ‘Terracotta Exhibition’ is on view at Vennirul Art gallery, CP Arts Centre, I Eldams Road, Alwarpt, Chennai for the next few weeks.