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Photo: Shilpa Nair Anand

Mixed media Different interesting pictorial interpretations

Photo: Shilpa Nair Anand

There is chaos, there is resolution, there is exhilaration, there is angst… there are a million reasons to paint and that is the best part of group shows. There is no ‘voyeur’s fatigue’, one is free of sequential compulsions – of theme, of treatment, of all those things that are supposed to provoke a painter into creative action. Each canvas is different; it is bound to be since the artist is different. And at the end of it all, for those who have wrung their hands at the ‘state-of-art’ or of what is passing off as art, there is hope. What is wonderful about both the exhibition is the medley of works, media and style.

‘Cross-Roads’ is a group show of 15 artists from all over the country. The preoccupations are reaction – some political others personal. If Neema Vaghela draws from memories of a childhood, part mischief part nostalgia, then Suresh K. Nair draws from myth to creating new mythologies. Murals have inspired him, the same colours tell different stories. Urmila Naik’s etchings are an interplay of lines and textures, Sunil Laal has socio-cultural stories to narrate on the canvas. It is pleasantly contemporary, there are few shades lacking in harmony.

For Naryanankutty, juxtaposing the present and (a perception) a past lost is an attempt to find an uncomfortable middle ground. Sherief and Shajith’s works are rooted in contemporary reality, then for Venugopal VG it is the reality of politics that generates images. His works are striking not just in interpretation but also in execution and impact. Saju Mannathur and Manoj Kannan reflect similar preoccupations but varied treatments. Rupal Dave’s use of red and black to express her preoccupations with the female form are stark, conversely Saptarshi Haksar’s take on the contemporary as with his ‘Reflection’ is very modern, almost ‘pop art’ in execution – very urban, very retro, Mousumi Biswas’s take too is very different. Suresh R.’s works are contemporary in almost the same vein as Haksar’s. Varied treatments, but thought provoking, at least each canvas has a different story to tell. The names may not sound familiar, but then not everyone starts off famous. The exhibition ends November 26.

Speaking of the better known, Piyali Ghosh and Kavitha Balakrishnan are two names at Gallery OED’s ‘Ophelia’. The predominant medium is water colour. Maybe that could be the reason why the exhibition is called ‘Ophelia’ (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet who drowned). While Piyali Ghosh’s paintings draw inspiration from the surreal, although there is a profusion of imageries, the execution is such that never does a canvas look crowded, in fact there is a feeling of lightness. Kavitha Balakrishnan’s images are immediate, almost familiar yet unfamiliar, refreshingly so. Here too, each artist’s take on his or her craft is different. Very fresh, minus all undecipherable angst or pretentiousness of being art. Satheesh Kumar K’s works too are an interesting mix of myths and recurrent images. Vinu V. V. ’s series, fore grounded by different images, with a repetitive background of yellow. Rajib Pradip Chowdhury’s works are, to overuse the term, different. Kedar Dhondu’s works seem to be art inspired by issues, issue backed art without the baggage of ideologies. The curator has pulled off an interesting melange of sensibilities. The exhibition is on till December 2.

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