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COLOURFUL MOSAIC One of Olaf van Cleef’s works

In his second exhibition in Chennai, Olaf, who is a counsellor on high range jewellery with Cartier since 1982, branches out with a collection of figurative paintings, a change from his trademark abstracts. In doing so, he reveals his jeweller’s touch to a greater extent than before. Every one of his delicate drawings of Indian Gods and Goddesses, rajas and ranis, royal elephants and palaces is adorned with Swarovski crystals of all shades. Olaf may not be working with the rubies or emeralds he’s accustomed to, but you can see the legacy of the van Cleef dynasty of jewellers in the beautiful detailing of the necklaces, ornaments, crowns and saris with glittering crystals.

But to focus only on the ‘jewels’ would be to do the paintings a disservice — the intricate workmanship on the canvases goes beyond crystals. There’s the painstaking use of tiny dabs of plaster of Paris that provides wonderful texturing to the open spaces of the paintings. There are the miniscule squares of metallic chocolate wrappers that he uses together with squares of paint to compose a shimmering mosaic all over the canvases. And there’s the soft pastel water colours he uses as a base for each of the paintings. Each of these elements give his works a distinctive look — this is Indian mythology and royalty re-interpreted, as seen through the eyes of a man who has visited the country 55 times since the age of seven, according to Manob Tagore of Cottage Industries, an associate of Olaf’s.

The exhibition also displays some of his brilliantly coloured abstracts, making for an interesting contrast. Where the figurative paintings are done more in pastels and contain a suggestion of tentativeness in the lines of the drawings, the abstracts pulse with energy and confidence. The colours are bolder and more arresting, with snaking lines of black and white strongly delineating the patchwork of hues, and his signature stick figures introduce movement on the canvases in a way that’s missing in the figurative works.

Put together, this is a one-of-a-kind exhibit in terms of colour, content, composition and style. All that’s left to say is — Olaf van Cleef’s love affair with India continues, and thank God for that. The exhibition ends on February 2.

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