Palakkad-based artist Rajendran Vadakkepadath, well known for his leaf paintings, celebrated the Malayalam month of Karkidakam — the Ramayana month — with some unique art. He painted the Ramayana on a dried banana leaf.
Mr. Rajendran used black and brown acrylic on a six-feet long treated banana leaf to surprising effect. From Valmiki writing the epic and King Janaka’s yaga to Rama’s crowning, almost all major episodes are painted in reverse on the ochre banana leaf.
Tribal idiom
“Deviating from the glorified styles found in TV shows and films, I used a tribal style to tell the epic story. My intention is to mark the epic through this exclusive medium of art, and not to create any veneration or piety,” the artist says.
He began working on the leaf on the first day of the Ramayana month and finished by the 25th day on Wednesday. Beaming with satisfaction, he says: “I could contain an epic in a banana leaf.”
Mr. Rajendran is a lone master in banana leaf painting, a rare genre that few artists have attempted. No one else, according to him, currently dabbles in banana leaf painting, because dried leaves are extremely difficult to handle for an artist.
Success with this rare medium has taken eight years of trials. “The biggest challenge with banana leaves is that outlining images with a pencil is not possible, as they will break. Unlike working with other surfaces such as canvas, paper and walls, painting on dried banana leaves takes longer,” says Mr. Rajendran.
Secret process
Creating the leaf canvas involves a secret treatment process. It is treated with milk before being painted on. “If the art work is kept under a glass frame, it can last more than a century,” he says.
He uses only brown and black in reverse for his work to stand out on the dried leaf’s natural brownish yellow, and uses only acrylic.
His painting of Sree Padmanabhaswamy in a reclining pose done in Thai style on an eight-feet-by four-and-half feet size background made of banana leaves is reputedly the biggest leaf painting in the world. “I have not seen or heard about a larger leaf painting,” he says.
When Diego Maradona died on November 25 last year, Mr. Rajendran paid unique tribute to the football legend by etching his face on a banyan tree leaf.
