CHENNAI: If you carefully trace the life journey of an artist, you will be able to find where they get the inspiration for their works. For Santhanakrishnan, his times of cycling through the quaint old streets of Kumbakonam every day to college, seeing the many old traditional doors of the village, is his life-long muse. The 40-year old artist has a strong attachment to doors; his works are either paintings of old traditional doors or paintings on wooden doors — his nickname couldn’t have been more apt.
‘Doors’ Santhanam, as he’s popularly referred to, is exhibiting a few of his works as part of ‘Art for Concern’ this weekend, and we couldn’t resist asking the candid artist about his love affair with doors.
“The culture of Kumbakonam is very rich. The doors of all traditional homes are sculpted with so much workmanship. And interestingly, all the doors will be open, none of them will ever be closed — it would almost feel like the house is breathing! It’s very welcoming, unlike how it is in cities,” narrates Santhanakrishnan.
When he would cycle past these homes, he could always catch a brief glimpse all the way throughout to the back of the house. “I could see a Thulasi maadam, or a bronze boiler of the kitchen, an aluminium milk can — a short glimpse into another home,” he describes.
And all these small, quaint details are captured in Santhanakrishnan’s paintings, with his strokes evoking a timeless appeal. One painting shows a bright red wall with peeling paint and a Thulasi maadam with clothes drying, towards end of the home. Faded movie posters of old movies like Enga Veetu Pillai, painted advertisements for Coca-Cola, and other such details can be seen besides some doors, instantly taking the viewers back to their childhood. “Many visitors to my show get emotional when they see these paintings because it reminds them of their childhood,” he explains.
He has been touring the world with ‘Doors’ for 18 years now, and has diversified from watercolours, oil colours, and acrylic on canvas to painting with mixed media on actual wooden doors. “I also do mixed media on a wooden box, where there is a door in front, and the back of the box is fitted with a painted canvas. This has more of a three-dimensional aspect to it,” he explains.
His works have found a home in residences, museums and halls across Kerala, Mumbai, Singapore, London, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia, Boston and even the homes of several celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachan, Kamal Haasan, the list is endless.
See Santhanakrishnan’s works on display at the ‘Art for Concern’ exhibition at the Lotus Lounge, ITC Grand Chola, on November 17 and 18. For details, call: 24353788 or visit www.doorpaintings.com