New Delhi   

Art show from South India

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: A four-day painting exhibition showcasing works inspired by Indian myths and traditions will open at Visual Arts Gallery of India Habitat Centre here this Saturday.

Titled "Mother Tongue: Visions from the South", the exhibition features works of four contemporary artists from South India -- Ramesh Gorjala, Vijaya Hagargundgi, Sadaanandan and Suresh Muthukulam. The uniqueness of these artists is their ability to adapt to new situations and yet retain their identities.

The artists, who have distinctive stylisation and techniques, face the common dilemma of carrying on a tradition in the face of modernity.

Born into a living tradition steeped in the history of narrative and iconic paintings, Ramesh Gorjala from Andhra Pradesh interlaces the delicate art of traditional Kalamkari with contemporary figurative style.

Fifty-two-year-old Vijaya Hagargundgi is from the Surpur School of Gulbarga in Karnataka. His ability to play with formal iconographic details makes his images distinctive from the regular miniature reproductions. Recent compositions of the artist have an even more contemporary ethos with the sacred and the sexual co-existence.

Both Sadaanandan and Suresh Muthukulam are students of the late legend of the Kerala mural tradition, Mammiyoor Krishnakutty Nair. Sadaanandan's creative ability is visualising elaborate sequences in all their intricate detail of colour, motif, pattern and distinctive stylisation, while Suresh Muthukulam's works showcase village life in a brilliant display of colour. As these artists walk the tightrope of tradition and modernity, they believe in the notion of reinventing authenticity and are concerned with the continuity of a shared visual style with the local source as inspiration.

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