THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘Working magic with the paintbrush’ would only be a phrase until one reads the paintings conjured up by Renjushan M G of Kazhivoor, Thiruvananthapuram. Having started sketching at the tender age of 13, seven of his paintings were on display at the art exhibition in Napier Museum.
Renjushan’s art technique shows experimentation of incorporating his unique free-hand style into other artistic methods. For instance, in this exhibition, he has rendered Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Hamsa Damayanti’ in free flowing brush strokes resembling Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s renowned depiction of turbulence. Renjushan has used this style to paint portraits of commissioned people as well as subjects conceived through imagination.
Though Renjushan works with various media like water colour, oil paint, poster paint and graphite powder, his preferred medium is the acrylic.
“Since its introduction, it has revolutionised painting. With acrylics, one can paint what he feels like unlike oil painting in which one has to wait for three days before you can apply the next coating”, Ranjushan says. Using acrylics also enables the artist to work with impasto technique easier than while using oil paint. Like most other professional artists, Renjushan places watercolour paintings in highest regard.
“As water has a mind of its own, mastery over water on paper will test everything that an artist has got. Also, it requires a lot of foresight, especially the highlights, which usually remain unpainted till the end”. However, Renjushan is not an enthusiast of abstract or modern artwork that lacks realistic perfection and calls it ‘unsettling’ and ‘unfinished’. He says, “These modern art style lacks usage of art theories to develop them. The art produced by the artists who break these guidelines loses serenity within it”.
Commenting on the market for paintings he says, “People here do not appreciate what the artist has got to say. Even when they commission the paintings, they dictate how and what to paint, taking away voice of the artist from the finished paintings”. At times, people tend to purchase cheap replicas of popular paintings instead of the originals. In many instances, paintings that have a potential to sell for tens of thousands, stay on the shelf without being sold.
“There are hundreds of artists who are as talented as me, but they do not get an opportunity to exhibit their paintings, let alone sell them. They need to be brought into the limelight”,he says. Today, though painting has become a leisure activity for the rich, people should know that there are people whose entire lives are about creating art, he adds.When asked if there is anything that the government could do to help artisans, he says, “We are not asking for a fixed salary or financial incentives. All that we need is work to do. The Government can create a platform which provides an interface where people can approach us artists on commissions”.
Just like how young Englishmen of the 18th century took the Grand Tour to paint continental subjects, Renjushan dreams of travelling to new lands and bring to canvas the scenes he beholds there. “I’m only 33 and there is still time for all that”, he says.