The advent of the era of globalisation has brought several positives along with unintended repercussions. With boundaries getting gradually blurred, the present scenario has led to the loss of cultural identities. It is this predicament that a group of eight contemporary artists intends to convey through their works that have been showcased at the exhibition titled ‘Octave’ at Alliance Française de Trivandrum at Vazhuthacaud.
The 23 works by the group, which includes Antony Karal, A.P. Sunil, Biveesh B., Dodsy Antony, Manoj Vyloor, Ranjith Raman, Suresh Panicker and Shijo Jacob, do not adhere to a particular format or medium.
The artists, many of who have collaborated with one another in the past, have strived to preserve their individual styles and seek to convey diverse perspectives on the changes taking place in the world through their favoured medium employed through conventional art practices.
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Shijo Jacob, an art teacher, has employed silk screened images of maps, suggesting colonisation, power and dominance, that have been collaged with photographs of people to express their plight of being trapped within the maze of a growing metropolis. Ranjith Raman, Antony Karal, Suresh Panicker, Manoj Vyloor and Biveesh B. have based their respective works on globalisation and industrialisation. The idea of colonisation and imperialism has also been highlighted with the powerful agencies reigning over the native folk.
Sunil has created three fibreglass relief sculptures through which he attempts to convey social satire and parody. He employs an urban-folk stylisation in which he combines that unusual imagery inherent in Kalighat paintings with aspects of the surrealist works of Belgian artist René Magritte.
In Dodsy Antony’s acrylic paintings, the artist portrays the issue of conflicting perspectives regarding a single event. The show was inaugurated by novelist George Onakkoor on Thursday. The exhibition will be held on all days from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. till July 17.
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Sarath Babu George