KOCHI: Questions about existence take expression in a riot of colours. Thoughts oscillating from the subconscious to the conscious state take forms that are both defined and blurred on his canvases.
Artist K A Soman has showcased different facets of life at the exhibition aptly titled ‘Our concerns over time and space’ at the Durbar Hall Art Centre.
Time and space, their beginning and their relation with the human mind are explored in many of the works that are quite intriguing. The timelessness of the space-time dimension and the mysterious curiosity it evokes are also dealt with.
Forms representing past, present and future, the adage that time and tide wait for no man and their relevance in space and its three dimensions have been reflected on in bold lines and beautiful forms in soft and bright shades.
A wide range of themes and media provokes your thoughts and senses when you move from one series to another. You can trace many a legend and myth of Ganesha in his Lord Ganesha series. The whole universe is depicted in one form of Ganesha expressed in swastika and ‘aum’ symbols. Soman has treated this form in different light and shades.
The worship of the elephant God and nature is a stark contrast to his series ‘Extinction and beyond’. The colourful works show how the density of forests is thinning with the extinction of beautiful and rich flora and fauna. In ‘Irreversible Destiny’ you can see an extinct Caspian tiger hanging from a tree, its tail linked to the shadow of its own skeleton. A huge tusker stares from a parrot cage in ‘Mammoth going in Dodo’s way or vice-versa’. Environmental issues are brought out in some works that talk about the extinction of many species which play an important role in balancing the ecology.
In contrast to the dying wonders of nature is his series ‘Celebrity Syndrome’, with people being celebrated by others for the so-called greatness he or she is born or bred into. In these works Soman has experimented with different paints to get the glitz and glamour of their life. The bold lines and the forms confined within the network are loaded with meaning and ridicule the celebrities who are lost in their glory. Another frame has a neck clad in suit and tie sporting many heads in different colours.
In ‘Unscripted Dreams’, the most beautiful expression of thoughts comes alive in surrealistic lines on his canvas.
The rest of the works delve into the intricacies of situations that men and women are in, the working of their mind that arouses different feelings in the viewers. Most of them are about expressionism and existentialism. There are layers of meaning embedded in this series that are symbolic in colour and abstract in treatment and style.
The exhibition will run through August 30.
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