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Original brush strokes
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Artist Shanmughan comments on social ills through ‘Little Truths’, on show at Durbar Hall Art Centre
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Photo: H. Vibhu
On a mission Artist Shanmughan paints diverse subjects
The works of Shanmughan, on show at the Durbar Hall Art Centre, A-B Gallery, makes one happy, for three reasons: That the artist’s skill is shown in the works, his style is evident in every painting and thirdly, Shanmughan has shown that in one
style, diverse subjects can be handled and that they can look very different from one another.
Ideas
Often, Tweedledum and Tweedledee pose as different works at an art show. And the reason is attributed to ‘style’, when you and I know it is rather a method to make a fast buck. For ideas and ideologies to be translated into art takes talent and skill.
Shanmughan’s show, titled ‘Little Truths’, has 34 paintings in all. There are oils, acrylics, water colours and pencil drawings. His ‘Little Truths’ is a reaction to the social problems that taunt the public, often with no answer in the near future. The smallest frame is a 18x18 work and the biggest a 48x48 one titled Silence, wherein he vents his angst at the domination of man in society. A beautiful painting of Bismillah Khan is as realistic as it is symbolic of the man’s plight, vis-a-vis the plight of a majority of musicians, who do not have promoters.
A painting of a huge cashew that engulfs the space is a protest against the endosulphan menace that is killing slowly but surely. ‘The rape of the century’ has a wine glass as the central motif. “It tells of the problems that the abkari lobby is perpetrating. When the Government is so concerned about the two-wheeler rider’s safety and insists on wearing of helmets, why is it not encouraging prohibition? Isn’t it double standard?” asks Shanmughan, clearly a leftist at heart though he has no political affiliations at all. Another painting depicts his ire against governmental machinery that is totally unapproachable.
People have no access to those who rule them, he says. A call to go back to nature is the message of a few other works.
The infiltration of city habits in villages is ruining a whole culture, the artist feels and that is reflected in a painting with a lantern, books and a suited figure which sticks out like a sore thumb.
His biggest inspiration is Dali and that influence stands out in Lab, a painting where you have heads that stick out in a hall. There are vibrant colours and loud ones where he protests vehemently with the brush. The different techniques and brush strokes Shanmughan has used are interesting.
Serious art
Shanmughan, who did the art course at RLV and belongs to Tripunithura, works at the Perambur Coach factory. He does mechanical drawings of the coach designs. Though he used to paint occasionally, he took to it seriously only in the last five years. He has exhibited in Chennai earlier. It took two and a half years to do these works.
Artists without godfathers have to fend for themselves, like Shanmughan. But he goes on steadfastly, on his own, with a mission…The show is on till October 14.
P. M.
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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