Kerala recreated in art

Aalankritha Art Gallery is displaying an art exhibition ‘God's Own Country’ by Ashok Kumar Gopalan, Nandan PV, Sadaanandan PK, Saju Mannathur, Sunil Vallarpadam and Suresh Muthukulam till September 17. The exhibition is a collection reflective of Kerala and its bountiful nature.

It holds witness to artwork that transports us instantaneously to a world of lush greenery, effervescent water and fresh air which is in contrast to the urban jungles that we are used to seeing in our everyday lives. Each artists add a surprise element to the collection with their unique interpretation.

Suresh Muthukulam follows the ancient technique of mural painting and natural colours. The element of this tradition is to create works on canvas in a contemporary aesthetic milieu. The artist has the unique skill and vision to speak of our secular times and bridge the past with present.

On the other hand Ashok Gopalan, draws his energy from his specific locale. The spectrum of social ambience, flora and fauna, local philosophy, rustic wisdom, cuisine, social criticism borders on a strident sarcasm. Artists Nandan PV's style of painting is more narrative in pattern with dream like aspects added in inadvertently.

“The core of my subject matter is unusually depicted and realistic in style. Figurative forms and designs visit the scenario repeatedly and frequently,” says Nandan. In a time when every act of civilisation causes an emancipation of natural beauty and integrations, the artist is compelled to reclaim them through his work and thus celebrates the harmony in the frame.

Sadaanandan, the well-established artist whose vivacity is seen in his composition, colouration and figuration uses a lot of motifs derived from the cultural background of the country. All his works are synonyms of nature and not landscape. Birds, animals, plants, village, nature, mythology, Indian classical literature and sensuous atmosphere along with human figuration make every canvas of his a statement of spiritual aesthetics.

In Saju Mannathur's paintings the human drama is minimised to the core. They are just happenings against a looming landscape, which is definitely sanguine by the various shades of red. Green patches connote trees and forests. In these paintings, one could find a different layout of a village, seen from a bird's perspective but this composite village is somehow emptied out.

Sunil Vallarpadam was born in the island of Vallarpadam surrounded by water and the life forms it nurtures. The theme of his paintings revolve around water and the fish that adorn it, evoking the tactile, elusive and dynamic form common to both, through his strokes.