HYDERABAD: Entering the Sapphire hall of Taj Krishna, you come face to face with the painting of Goddess Saraswati sitting majestically on a swan while looking down at a horse made up of humans. The horse is the vahana of Lord Surya. As you look around further, you will find that all exhibits are based on Vahanas, which are the God’s mode of transport.
Indeed, such are the paintings that the name Vahana - a celestial journey for the art exhibit by artist Suresh Muthukulam is apt.
His paintings, for this show, are an inspiration from the god’s mode of transport, the Vahanas. Each painting has the celestial variation of the bikes and cycles and some even have a contrast of the god and man. The paintings use a combination of acrylic and natural colours.
Though the man has been in the field for over 25 years now, Muthukulam still describes himself as an experimental artist. Having been selected to redo the “Last Supper”, the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci in Indian style, a feat worth boasting of, the artist remains humble and believes completely in his art. As his style is deeply rooted in the Kerala mural style of painting, mythologies have a strong hold in his artworks.
Talking about his preference to mythologies, he says, “I have done my schooling in Guruvayur Devaswom, which is right in the Guruvayur Temple. So having studied in a temple, mythology becomes a part of who you are. It forms your very being. Though I have come out of that mindset now, it is still a part of me so I include some part of it in almost every painting I make. If you notice artists like Picasso and Michelangelo base their paintings from their traditions and so would I,” he adds.
Every artist, he explains, paints what he wants to. It isn’t something which he/she plans before hand. It is an expression and requires time and creativity. With so many years behind him, he admits that some styles and characteristics have become unique to him.
If one observes carefully most of his recent paintings, a blue man which most identify with Krishna can be seen a lot in his works but he says it is his mascot and people can interpret it anyway they can. “You can only lead people to the painting, and give them certain perspective. The whole objective of painting is to not be clear. You should let the audience have a perspective of their own too.”
While this exhibit has mythologcal elements in it, it also has some abstract shades. Talking about his change from the mythology to contemporary arts, he says “Art has become commercialized. It is like producing products for a factory and that is just not right. In the olden days there was a lot of market for traditional artists like A. Ramachandran or Jamini Roy but then t the Indian art shifted from its traditional roots and started drawing inspiration from the west. That is partly the reason I shifted too, to gain market. But now I am at peace with myself, producing ten pieces per year.” he concluded.
Empowerment
Titled the Dasanari Gaja, has ten women who are in the form of an Elephant. There is a mahout in the picture who is the blue man and he is seen holding a lotus in one hand which represents love and a stick in the other which represents control over the women. The women are all in various poses with one braiding her hair, the other playing instruments. The painting depicts the power of ten women being equal to that of one elephant and the blue man having control over the elephant. Done in subtle tones of blue, green and yellow, it portrays the women beautifully with long eyes and hair.
Plight of bulls
Kala Rupa, Kala means bull and the picture shows the plight of bulls in India. It portrays irony perfectly in the picture where it shows Lord Shiva riding a bull in the top part of the painting where the bottom part is a lorry with a cattle of bulls being taken to the slaughter house across the border from Kerala to Tamil Nadu. The work has a beautiful background of a sunflower field which is juxtaposed brilliantly against the bulls impending death as well.