BENGALURU: At a time when art shows are going digital and works revolve around the current pandemic, Sadaanandan PK is attempting to give art lovers a peek into the old ways. His show, titled ‘Taamara: The Genesis of Nature’, one of the first ‘regular’ shows to be held in the city, is currently on at
Gallery g on Lavelle Road. Inspired by the lotus and its spiritual attributes, his solo show also has an underlying theme of the Upanishads.
“But there is some link to the lockdown, with the art reflecting peace and stillness. The pandemic has shown us that we have to slow down, and somewhere in my work I’ve brought that in,” says the senior artist, whose works have found place of pride in the homes of musician Ustaad Zakir Hussain, and celebrity designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. Two of his paintings have also been used in the Malayalam feature film Olu directed by Shaji N Karun. The Thrissur-based artist has been commended for the 3,000 sq ft mural painting at Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram. It was part of the restoration work at the temple between 1994 – 98.
Bold but not overpowering and exuberant yet subtle are how his strokes and use of colour are defined. “I use a lot of natural colours, especially blues and greens, which go with my works,” he says about the 11 works that he has done. Sadaanandan is no stranger to a lockdown as he admits that once engrossed, he doesn’t step out of his studio for 2-3 months. “I started this six months ago since the plan was to hold an exhibition in March,” he says.
In this series, he uses natural colour on a variety of media, including canvas, wood panel and imported paper. While he started off as a mural artist, which he is still known for, a visit to the Ajanta and Ellora caves in the year 2000 became a turning point. “I was so influenced by the art work there that I started looking into nature landscape,” says Sadaanandan, whose works involve huge mural paintings, with his 500 sq ft work at the third edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale becoming a talking point.
The show is on from 10am to 6pm, every day, until July 12 at Gallery g.