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Artistic tribute

Colour and character The works of Viswam

It’s only fitting that the first art tribute in memory of the late K.M. Adimoolam comes from two old friends and colleagues — C. Dakshinamoorthy and A. Viswam — with whom he did joint exhibitions across the country for years. ‘Remembering Adi’, currently on display at Focus Art Gallery, is a collection of brilliantly coloured abstracts by Viswam and rustic granite sculptures by Dakshinamoorthy, and is the first exhibition the two have done together since Adimoolam’s death.

“The three of us always did exhibitions together; now that he’s not here with us anymore, Viswam and I wanted to do one in his memory,” says Dakshinamoorthy, simply.

“He’s one of the pillars of Indian art, and as an abstract painter, I was always been very inspired by him and the purity of colour in his works,” adds Viswam.

Dakshinamoorthy

Perhaps not surprisingly then, it is colour that truly stands out in this collection of paintings by Viswam.

Each canvas is filled completely with solid colours, from bright reds and shimmering blue-greens to pale yellows, rusty browns and greys. Using brushstrokes of different widths and lengths in different directions, he creates a sense of texture and movement.

The result is sometimes chaotic, such as the one in murky shades of grey, white, black and brown, and sometimes tranquil, as the one with swirls of white, green and blue that reminds you of a calm ocean.

“Through these abstracts, I try to capture a moment of Nature I’ve experienced, the colour of the trees or stones or the form of the wind, and share with others what I enjoyed,” says Viswam.

Dakshinamoorthy’s works are also close to Nature, but for different reasons.

It isn’t the colours or the movement in this case, but the way in which the blocks of granite he uses are allowed to live, to retain their particular and arresting properties in spite of the face of a woman being etched on them.

Instead of the stone being transformed into a smooth likeness of a face, it seems like the distinctive face of each woman in the series has grown on to its eccentrically textured surface by some natural process.

Looking at each small, asymmetrical block of granite is a process of discovery, of finding the strongly-etched features, the eyes, mouth, nose, jaw and hair, and getting the sense of a unique personality in each.

“I love observing human beings and trying to capture their expressions on stone,” says Dakshinamoorthy. “But I believe that even as you create the sculpture, the stone’s essential nature should always be retained.”

There’s a lot that can be said about the late Adimoolam, a stalwart of the Madras Movement, and this exhibition, with its celebration of colour, form and artistic expression, is perhaps one of the best ways to do it. The exhibition is on until July 26.

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