The Hindu : New Delhi News : Kerala comes alive on his canvas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 27, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Kerala comes alive on his canvas

Madhur Tankha

DREAM-LIKE: A painting by Murali Nagapuzha.

NEW DELHI: He derives inspiration from his tranquil village in God's Own Country. No wonder life in rural Kerala comes alive in artist Murali Nagapuzha's works. His latest exhibition of paintings, "Of Elephants, Spices and the Everyday", displaying his earlier and recent works opens at Galerie Romain Rolland in South Delhi on May 4.

Organised by Alliance Francaise de Delhi, with support from the Office of Trade Promotion of the Embassy of Poland and the Travancore Art Gallery, the exhibition will feature about 40 works of the self-taught artist.

Murali's paintings set in his birthplace Muvattupuzha reflect the atmosphere he grew up in. Strongly influenced by the colours of nature, rich traditional and mythological heritage, his paintings have a dream-like quality about them.

"In a highly polluted and contaminated environment where even a lungful of air is a rarity, I try to depict the tranquillity of a bygone village in Kerala," says Murali.

His rural background and absence of formal training from any school of painting came as a blessing in disguise as he evolved a style all his own.

Curated and presented by Alka Pande, the exhibition will be on view up to May 13.

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