Forget art, essentially life itself is all about perception; our contemplation, impressions, imagination, judgement and so on of our abstract observations of people, places, nature and of the world around us, collating into forms and images. ‘Elements,’ a group exhibition of abstracts by Deepa Ram, Ashok Kumar Gopalan, B. Balagopalan, and Sadanandan E. C., is a ‘joy ride through the wonderland of forms and colours,’ a quest to discover the hidden meaning in patterns.
Take, for instance, Melbourne-based artist Deepa’s colourful abstracts in acrylic, inspired by traditional Australian Aboriginal art dot paintings. The paintings are aesthetically appealing but it’s evident that the seemingly random patterns on canvas have hidden meanings.
“Aboriginal art dates back to at least 30, 000 years, is very spiritual and is full of animistic symbolism. It’s really fractal art that comes from nature. The Aborigines used art as a form of communication and abstracted their paintings to disguise real meanings and secret practises so as it could not be understood by their colonial masters,” explains Deepa.
Deepa Ram with one of her works
She teaches chemistry and researches on carbon nano filters at Deakin University and says that art is her passion. “Each canvas should thus be viewed as a storyboard. I am inspired by the works of Aboriginal artist Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi, who paints the traditional stories of her ancestors on canvas,” adds Deepa.
One of Deepa’s paintings ‘Octopus dreaming’ is at it’s core, simply an octopus’ view of its world – the sky above, the blue of it’s home in the water and the ground beneath its tentacles but look beyond the miasma of colours and one can see a world in disarray. Another charts the growth of a germinating seed, as it struggles to find a footing both above and below ground. Yet another imagines society as a serpent that has coiled around our perceptions. One of her signature motifs in her works is that of an eye, which she explains as a symbol for perception. “What makes a being is their perception,” says Deepa. She is also a poet and all her six paintings are accompanied by poems that she has written.
Sadanandan EC with one of his paintings
Again, in Sadanandan’s two paintings, blatantly obvious are the sights and scenes of Wayanad (the depictions of indigenous rice cultivation, tribal men and women working in the fields are a dead giveaway). Look closer and they hold a wealth of meaning, of how food crop cultivation is giving way to cash crop cultivation, of how tourism and settlers are encroaching on forests, of how tribals are losing their homes and their way of life, of how the district’s weather is changing from chilly and cool to hot and humid... “My paintings are a study of my experience, interactions, intimacy with and attitude to nature and with my environment. I been living in Wayanad for some years now and what you see on canvas are the real issues that the district is facing today,” he explains.
Balagopalan too is inspired by ‘ultra real figures set against the serene presence of nature.’ A Delhi-based artist, the youngster has exhibited two art works ‘The Form has no End’ and ‘No One Writes Poetry’ here. Nilambur-based Ashok Kumar, meanwhile, paints ‘modern abstract forms, realisations of his explores the unknown in the complexities of modern life.’ His one work that’s on display is about the voyeuristic approach of society, indicated by distorted figures of men and women.
The exhibition is being organised by Alliance Française de Trivandrum, in association with Trivia Contemporary and has been curated by Sreekrishnan K.P.
It’s on till June 30 at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum’s Art Gallery, 10 am to 6.30 pm.
Contact: 2320666
