KOCHI: When you step into the hall at the MN Nayar Foundation to view the Cochin Art Fair, the first painting that catches the eye is a 6’ x 6’ oil painting by AnandaKrishnan.
Right in the middle of the work is a horse, wearing the war armour of olden times, straddling two pieces of land. Beneath the animal is a drawing of the human heart, its arteries touching both pieces.
“The horse is crossing a fractured nation,” he says. “And even though the land has been partitioned, the heart beats the same for both places. I am not hinting at the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. I am talking about how nations come into being and the existence of borders everywhere. We also create borders within our minds.”
A little further down is NN Rimzon’s simple charcoal drawing of two tiled roof houses next to each other, with an overhanging tree. It seems like any ordinary house, till Rimzon says it is the house of one of Kerala’s greatest poets N Kumara Asan (1873-1924).
“The house has been preserved at Thonnakkal (near Thiruvananthapuram),” he says. “It was the place where Asan used to write his poems. His vision and social commitment are qualities to be admired.”
Another work which can be admired is Babu KG’s 6’ x 5’ oil on canvas. It shows a young girl standing in thick foliage, and staring with unblinking intensity at a butterfly which is peering into a flower. He got the inspiration for this work when, one day, while walking in Wayanad, with members of the Adivasi community, he saw a girl looking at a butterfly. Babu was struck by her innocence.
“I have noticed that people who live in the forests and have close contact with Nature have a heightened sense of innocence as well as divinity,” he says. “In the cities, the people have become mechanical and hard-hearted. So, I wanted to show the innocence of the girl and the rich biodiversity of the forests.”
Meanwhile, right at the centre of the hall, on the floor, is a 3’ high black bell, made of foam, with a hook on top. There are several black, white and brown rats, with bells attached to them, which are running away. This work, by Narayanan Mohanan, is called, ‘The Other 99 Percent’. It has been inspired by the Aesop’s Fable of ‘Who will bell the cat?’
“I wanted to relate it to the present where politicians, religious authorities, and corporate leaders, who comprise 1 per cent of the population, control society,” says Mohanan. “Everybody wants a revolution, but who will bell the cat? Instead, they are all running away from the task.”
Meanwhile, after handling the huge task of setting up and running the Kochi Biennale, Founder Bose Krishnamachari has now done a work called ‘Stretched Bodies’. “
Since the medium used was acrylic, it dries off very fast, so I had to create a work with rigour and energy, pleasure and passion, freshness and warmth,” says Bose. “The aim is to reflect optimism. So, it is full of colours, and psychedelic textures.”
A total of 43 artists, including Aji Kumar, Ameen Khaleel, Bindhi Rajagopal, Baiju CL, Tom Vattakkuzhy, OC Martin, Hochimin and Bara Bhaskaran are taking part. The show was curated by O Sunder, who, along with a group of fellow artists and art lovers, set up the Cochin Artcube last year.
“There are artists who were finding it difficult to showcase their works, so we wanted to give opportunities to them,” says Sunder, who has put up a work called ‘Vava’. “That’s how we set up this event which will conclude on September 15.”