Kerala   

Feeling the rural pulse

Remote villages and village bazars are no longer what they used to be. Rapid changes have overwhelmed the land and the people and they have not escaped the attention of artists.

Satish Thoprath, a young painter, portrays the bewilderment of rural people as they encounter these social and economic changes. The artist brings to the fore the pangs of local people when they are uprooted from a familiar culture.

Fifteen paintings of Satish are on display at the solo exhibition at the Jawahar Library Auditorium here. The exhibition titled ‘On Earth’ is a visual narration of the local themes that he is very familiar with, hailing as he is from Mayyil, a village known for its greenery and peasant tradition.

“You cannot avoid his paintings because they are drawn on huge canvases,” says art critic A.T. Mohanraj. Satish might not be comfortable communicating through micro visuals, Mr. Mohanraj says adding that his oil paintings portray the real with all its subtleties.

Satish is sceptical about the elite art practices he came across during his extensive travels across the country to see paintings at art centres. His paintings invoke memories of what used to be rural life. His village is now a victim of reckless granite and laterite quarrying. Its serenity is disturbed by reverberating sounds of dynamite explosions.

His oil painting titled ‘On Earth’ portrays the peeling of the earth’s surface exposing its bleeding parts. Another painting shows zigzag roads through the quarries extending to new areas. Red is the prominent colour in these paintings and one of his paintings is titled ‘Blood-wet Land.’ Greenery is presented as fast receding patches. ‘Sacred Grove’ conjures up memories of ancient ‘kavus,’ the pockets of lush greenery in villages.

The 36-year-old painter worked as a freelance artist for various magazines and newspapers. He had held two solo exhibitions earlier and participated in three group exhibitions. He has been working as art teacher at the Government Higher Secondary School at Chattukappara here since 1999.

Mohamed Nazeer

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Heavy rush at Sabarimala
Feeling the rural pulse
Charmed by the Lord
Festive spirit
Beedi workers wait for benefits
DCC chief accused of fund misuse
engagements
Auspicious day
‘Artiste who fought against injustice’
Ill-fated
Two hospitalised after inhaling toxic gas
Self-medication poses problems for diabetics
Duryodhana presides over Dalit temple
‘New technology to help solve garbage issue’
‘Alternative medicines complicate diabetes management’
New system will solve garbage issue: expert
New Reliance phones
Tribal people make history in exports
Clearance for pickle firm
For a prosperous future

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu