All evidences point to a clear case of unblemished love for art. Or else, the 15 lawyers, seven of them women, of the Calicut Bar Council would not have gotten together with a collection of their paintings at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery in the city on Monday.
The 52 works on display, with the theme ‘Rhythmic Painting,’ show us how their art is exclusive of their profession. The artists have consciously kept out all that is from their vocation in their art.
“For us, it is quite a difficult task to attain professionalism in two areas — law and art. The only way of overcoming this hurdle is to think of collectives such as this,” says M.K. Shakeel, the force behind the exhibition.
No painting in this collection is an ‘instant work’ done for the sake of a show. The works do depict the true efforts of the artists, says Shakeel. Sreeranjini says she is taking part in such an event after 11 years. “Painting was certainly a passion, but, in hectic professional life, it was quite a tough task for me to continue in the field and think of individual exhibitions,” she says.
This was the case with most of the other women members of the band. Also, most members did not have adequate number of paintings for solo shows.
The inaugural function too won the hearts of art aficionados as Mahidhar Manat, a percussionist from the group, did a show featuring seven instruments, namely, Idakka, Ghatom, Ganchira, Damaru, Dholak, African Drum, and Arabian Drum.
The exhibition concludes on March 13.
