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Happiness by the dozen
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Twelve young artists brighten up the art gallery with their paintings
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Photos: K. Ananthan
Young world Twelve students of art
Paintings document life — social practices, environment, costumes, and so on for the future generations. And, they are a much nicer record of our times than fuddy-duddy history textbooks. Aeons later, imagine yourself walking down an art galler
y studying these paintings. You would see what life was like in the 2000s.
The 12 young artists who have come to Coimbatore have represented life as they perceive it. And, it is all there for you to see at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery. They are third year art students from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. And, between them, they have 122 paintings put up for sale and display (the paintings are priced between Rs. 250 and Rs. 8,000).
That they are young is obvious. Their works are for most part, brightly coloured and one doesn’t see any cynicism or dark thoughts in their choice of subjects. Bright oranges and scarlet catch your eye as a cock crows at the sun.
Pleasing shades
Elsewhere, a mossy green lotus pond reflects a nearby temple. Pretty blues, aquamarines and pleasing greens define landscapes, mountainsides and gardens. Where there are people in the paintings, they all seem a contented lot going about their job. A woman walks beside the striped wall of a temple and another carries clothes to the riverside to wash them — very everyday and yet filled with peace and tranquillity and prettiness.
Old world charm
An education tour to Rajasthan has inspired paintings from there. A background of autos rushing by, hoardings and a tarred road provide the perfect foil for the camel cart and its driver — both the animal and the man show no hurry whatsoever and seem untouched by the racy world. Similarly, in another painting, a man sits on his haunches dreaming, while another strolls by. A cycle lazily leans on a brick wall.
The still life paintings also speak volumes. There is one of a table covered with a crumpled jamakkalam. On it are books, an inkpot and a couple of steel dabbas. There is a story in there somewhere, you feel. That is the nicest thing about art exhibitions. They make you wonder what it was that motivated a particular painting or a scene. What incident or emotion triggered them off? Some of the paintings are just visually appealing. A heap of mud pots, some of them broken and another one of a scattering of coins warrant a second glance. As does an ink drawing of Bernard Shaw. Something about Shaw’s face must have appealed to the artist, as he said he had not read any of Shaw’s works. Beautiful blues and greens draw your eyes to a painting of a hillside. The work is by Theenabanthu. He is hearing and speech impaired. But, that in no way has impaired his eye for colour, detail and beauty.
The paintings are there for you to see and savour at the art gallery till February 24, between 10. a.m. and 6.30 p.m. For details, call 0422-2574110.
The artists are K. Selvam, P. Muthukumar, N. Kothandaraman, L.Gopi, G. Thirupurasundhari, A. Arul, T. Nannai, T.P. Laju, S. Dhivya, V. Sathish, Theenabanthu and L. Bharathi Raja.
PANKAJA SRINIVASAN
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