The five faces of woman, literally and metaphorically, is what the art exhibition ‘Panchamukhi' is all about. The group show (on at Vernissage Art Gallery) and the group, incidentally, go by the same name.
The group comprises, in alphabetic order, Asma Menon, Lakshmi Srinath, Manisha Raju, Razia Tony and Thejo Menon. The five friends and compatriots in art are Chennai based.
When a group of artists, all women, calls itself ‘Panchmukhi' it makes one wonder if it is a statement of the feminist kind? Lakshmi Srinath and Thejo Menon disagree. According to them it is not about being exclusionist or feminist, it is rather about five artists who are also women coming together as a group and working. Razia calls the group a ‘fellowship of five artists'.
Individualistic
“As a group we can do things together. And constructively help each other artistically,” elaborates Thejo. Lakshmi stresses the fact that despite being women, their works are varied as their artistic and aesthetic sensibilities are very individualistic. Gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon are sometimes represented as having more than one face or as having more than one set of limbs. This is considered a metaphorical representation of different traits of an individual. Same goes for the work done by Panchamukhi.
The works of the five are very different, but there is an underlying uniformity of being rooted in an ethos that derives heavily from Indian culture. Of the five artists three have the Kerala connection, Razia and Thejo are Malayalis and Asma is married to a Malayali. Asma draws heavily from her ancestry, in Gujarat. Her works remind one of tapestry like effect (brought about by the use of bright colours), tribal art (the motifs and the execution) and mythology (Garuda, turtle, cat etc) of course. “I am interested in the ‘whys' and the ‘what happens'. I am a voracious reader and have researched extensively on mythology and therefore some of the elements from there have influenced my works.” Asma has exhibited her works in Kerala before.
Thejo was born and brought up in Chennai, but nostalgia for home (Kerala) saw her painting shades of a green never seen in Chennai. Only a Malayali or one who has lived a long (long) time in Kerala knows the myriad shades of green that we have seen. Her frames (at the exhibition) on the whole tell very bright tales, which with their greens, reds, yellows and even whites remind us of Kerala, Kathakali, our monsoons and mundum-neriyathum .
Vibrant
But Razia's works on the other hand are softer, feminine. Just like the soft-spoken artist. Traditional Indian works such as ‘Ragamala' have inspired her. She calls her works ‘Sandhya', ‘Varsha', ‘Greeshma', ‘Aruna' etc which are drawn from classification of time and seasons in the Indian system.
The softness of Razia's works and vibrancy of Thejo's works are offset by the solidity of Lakshmi's works. Not for her canvas, she says she prefers the solidity of wood and therefore she works on wood. She says she has taken her art work out of the canvas so to speak. Her oeuvre (of what one got to see at the gallery) derives heavily from the South Indian tradition of ‘tantra'. The colours that dominate her works are the ones that we traditionally associate with Hindu rituals and ceremonies, “I paint what I have imbibed from my experience as an artist and from the exposure I have had, from what I am.” She likes her art to be natural, rather than trying too hard and in the bargain appearing contrived.
Till you spot her signature, you will never know that the works are by a woman. Lakshmi says that not for her the typically feminine, she believes that the female cannot exist in isolation. The masculine and the feminine together are the basis of creation. Her works cannot be strictly called paintings; they are more along the lines of installations. Her works are study of balance and texture, not limited within a canvas or confined by a frame, her work are as she wants them to be, limitless.
Metaphysical
Manisha Raju's works too, seem to, defy limits. Her works are populated by figures drawn from Indian mythology, so there are the deeply meditative Krishna and Hanuman. The characters seem to be looking inwards in introspection, ‘a quest for the metaphysical aspect of the person'. The preoccupation with the philosophical which is evident in her works is part of her belief system as well. “Basically I like philosophy and I am a believer in the concept of non-attachment which I try to practise as well,” she says. Hers, she says, is an attempt to connect with the past in a different form, in a way which is contemporary.
The exhibition concludes on October 25.
