The objects chosen for display make the change at Surendran Karthyayan’s installation exhibition. The artist has used the most atypical objects like basket, wooden pieces, shovel and even PVC pipe to create an astounding impact on art connoisseurs. “When viewed in a different context, even the most common objects that we use in our mundane life have a different meaning,” explains the artist whose works ‘Old Tools, New Thoughts’ are exhibited at Durbar Hall Art Centre.
The works titled ‘Tools’, displaying an array of knives and wires are pieces that stand out in the exhibition for the profound meaning that they carry. In one work the artist has arranged different types of knives in the backdrop of a white surface, to create an appalling effect, thus symbolising the ever-increasing level of violence these days. In another, red, green and yellow wires swirl across the surface signifying the panic felt inside the mind when one gets traumatised.
“Our mental connect with certain objects have undergone a sea change within a few years. The meaning of knives and other cutlery have changed of late from tools used for cutting and chiselling to killing human beings. The very sight of such objects creates panic among us, which was not the case earlier. While we used a long knife earlier for cutting the edges of vegetables, now we use it for chopping heads,” says the artist.
Another series of six works named ‘Deconstruction’, display tools that were once commonly used for agricultural purposes. Also there are objects used for constructing houses like wood pieces, chiselled powder, shovel, metal pieces. “While making a house, each and every object counts. Even a small piece of stone is important for laying a strong foundation and if that piece falls out of place the whole construction will shatter. Same is the case with our life too,” says Surendran.
Surendran, a recipient of Lalithakala Akademi award is a multi-faceted artist who has excelled in sculpture, painting and installation works. The artist, who originally hails from Muvattupuzha, did his BFA in sculpture from the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram. He won the Akademi award for his wooden sculpture, ‘Portrait of Picasso’. Interestingly Surendran had also done a work on medicinal plants named ‘Wagamon Studies’.
The exhibition is on till the end of this month.