Tryst with colours and shapes
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B.D. Dethan’s ‘Mind Collage’ draws the viewer to walk down an assemblage of abstracts. Bhawani Cheerath
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Photo: S. Mahinsha.
expressions of the mind:‘Mind Collage’ by B.D. Dethan.
Over the years, the impression one got of artist B.D. Dethan’s works was his intention to throw light on uncertain times. The restlessness, the violent energy, the emerging gloom and the hopelessness of the age, found space in his frames.
From stark black and white images that he spewed forth in ‘Kali’ or the tormented human faces in ‘Mukhangal,’ he moved to more vibrant and colourful expressions in the ‘Parinamam’ series and later the sepia tinted ‘Nude Complexions.’
‘Mind Collage,’ his latest works, displayed at Suryakanti Gallery from today, draws the viewer to walk down an assemblage of abstracts. The exhibition concludes on August 31.
Mellowed palette
If the earlier images captured the “nasty, brutish and short,” the palette has mellowed.
While the “de-peopled” canvas is striking becauseof the manner in which it differs from his earlier expression, one wonders if the organising of space reflects the loss of spontaneity and freshness in the world around. Do the 19 frames voice man’s loss of control over the essential? Does it also present the alienation, which seeks an outlet in the frames sans even symbolic human presence?
The shift is obvious and cannot be missed. What happened to the disturbing images and the restlessness of the past? He laughs aloud and adds, “I thoroughly enjoyed the tryst with colours this time. Unrestrained, with nothing crowding my mind, this was how the brush worked. Like a child, enjoying the every moment spent on the canvas, it was a riot of colours that took shape in the work.”
The early blacks, charcoal and Indian ink on a white base have made way for bright hues of red, amber, green, an aquamarine beryl or an occasional grey.
The tidy arrangement of space and deployment of colours are indicative of a formalism of tone and technique endowing the works with a heightened depth.
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