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Photos: K. Ananthan

Mixed offerings Artist V Rajagopal with his works

‘Contemporary paintings’ says the brochure, but the painting that immediately draws your eyes is a kutcheri in progress, in shades of browns and creams. It looks like a blown up sepia photograph.

That is from a distance. Get closer and the features blur into smudges and strokes and layers of colour.

In fact most of the paintings are like that. From a distance they have a certain depth and a three dimensional effect, and as you go closer they all merge into a palette of colours.

“The combination of colours and the way they are layered and juxtaposed all add dimension and perspective to the works,” says Rajagopal. He says he doesn’t use any linseed oil or turpentine to quick dry his colour. He prefers the traditional style of applying the colours and allowing them to dry naturally. “That is how the old masters did it. And, it adds longevity to the paintings,” he says.

To the untrained eye, Rajagopal’s works seem a curious mix. While on the one hand there are scenic bamboo groves, forests, temples and mountains and vales, on the other there are geometrical and cubist kind of paintings.

A painting with fishes leaping about and another of Radha Krishna and a swan in a burst of colour look contemporary and modern in tone. Rajagopal says there was a time when he was vastly influenced by cubism. His inspiration is contemporary artist K. M. Adimoolam.

An interesting addition this time to the exhibition is a collection of small ink drawings. Study them and then look at the bigger canvasses, and they seem familiar. “The idea is to give people an idea of where the larger paintings are coming from. The ink drawings are the basic idea, the pre-cursors. They are enlarged upon and transformed into the big paintings you see,” explains the artist.

Rajagopal is an art teacher in a government school. And, he feels very strongly about the way art is being treated.

“Just having sporadic art competitions, etc., is not enough. There has to be a follow up. There must be intellectual stimulation. Children should be encouraged to discuss art and know about the history of art, and so on,” he says.

“Just having art academies is not enough. It has to be a sustained effort,” he says. And, Rajagopal is all for having young artists interact with established artists and learn about them. He recollects how he was privileged to be allowed to watch artists at work and hear them discuss techniques, artistry and so on. He firmly believes that such intellectual exercises adds dimension to one’s work.

His works are on display and sale at the art gallery till December 30 from 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.

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