A magnificent interplay of colour and light, Elayaraja’s life-like paintings offer remarkably glimpses into the disappearing world of South Indian rural life. The Chennai-based artist will showcase about 15 of his magnificent oils-on-canvas, rendered in his signature realist style at Kynkyny Art Gallery from May 30 to June 15.
It’s not pastoral panoramas or bustling rural scenes but the intimate world of the village home that Elayaraja depicts in his art. He recreates the quiet enchantment of rustic Tamil Nadu in his latest series, offering remarkably lively glimpses of daily life with a series of enigmatic portraits of solitary women in the middle of domestic settings, going through the motions of daily life.
Nothing commonplace about this art
He replicates with obsessive accuracy, the delicate patterns on zari borders, the elaborate carvings on wooden doors, the intricate weaves of cane baskets and the metallic shine of utensils. The effect is almost synesthetic, teasing viewers to hear the tinkling bangles and the rustle of saris, feel the quick movement of hands as they work, touch the shafts of sunlight and drink in the deep tones of colour.
While Elayaraja paints the everyday, there is nothing commonplace about his paintings, which are a luminous and luxuriant play of light and colour. He displays an unusual mastery over the oil medium, and the depth and richness of the images he creates have been likened to Ravi Varma’s canvases. Steeped in natural light, the paintings glisten with the texture of turmeric silk, the coppery glow of jewellery and the mottled, incandescent shades of everyday objects.
More importantly, the paintings transcend the ordinary with the reproduction of a stray, fleeting expression on the female protagonist’s face. Whether she is weaving a flower garland, praying, washing vessels or in the middle of a daydream, the almond-eyed, nose-ringed, sari-clad, jasmine-braided heroine of Elayaraja’s works is suffused with an emotional intensity and a meditative, haunting beauty that goes well beyond the mundaneness of the work she is doing. By turns soft, dreamy or wistful, the expressive women stare out at the viewer mid-action, mid-movement, or mid-gaze - as if they have been caught in the middle of a private moment or reverie.
All his paintings have this absorbing, intimate quality, giving viewers the feeling that they have stumbled into someone’s personal space. But there is no sense of intrusion here. Radiating cosiness, life and warmth, the paintings beckon viewers to step in, look around and linger for as long as they like
The world he paints
The artist is intimately acquainted with the world he paints. Elayaraja grew up in Kumbakonam, a town in Tamil Nadu, replete with traditional homes, temples and Dravidian culture. His childhood was spent in the cheerful bustle of the kitchen, in the company of his mother, sisters and aunts. And so the hearth, its utensils and paraphernalia are a recurring motif in Elayaraja’s work. These days, the artist finds inspiration while travelling through interior Tamil Nadu. He wanders through its villages, clicking pictures of whatever sights appeal to him. He then reproduces them in his art.
The end product is not unlike a high resolution photograph. What is astonishing about Elayaraja’s oeuvre is its hyper-real quality. Life-like and three dimensional, his paintings possess a startling vividness. But his magic does not lie in creating photo-realist art. Instead, Elayaraja uplifts a mundane setting into something evocative and timeless by imbuing it with idyll, romance and an honest simplicity which is typical of rural life.
Elayaraja’s works celebrate ordinary people, unpretentious settings and the spirit of South India. Neither kitschy nor overly nostalgic, they resonate with indigenous culture, older ways of life and traditions that are dying out.
The paintings offer fleeting glimpses of a fragile world which is being overtaken by the frenetic forces of development and urbanisation. But rather than mourn its loss, Elayaraja finds inspiration in its still-enduring beauty and charm.