Mural art, the history of which dates back to antiquity, was once considered a passe, what with the emergence of modern art. But the classic art made a great comeback later with the frescos seen everywhere from the walls of temples to interiors of houses to textiles and wall hangings. The paintings of Sreeja Ravindran, ‘Montage, a Delectable Fusion’ exhibited at Durbar Hall are visibly distinctive from the usually seen mural paintings.
While the traditional Kerala murals lay lesser emphasis to detailing of costumes and more stress to the anatomy of figurines, Sreeja has adopted another style. She has infused ‘Pahari’ style, the miniature art form that is prevalent in the Northern parts of the country especially the Himalayan region, into her works. “In Kerala art, we give more care to the structure of the figures which are usually square shaped and voluptuous. But I always had an eye for detailing because of which I was more influenced by the ‘Pahari’ art than the Thanjavoor art that was there in my syllabus,” explains this graduate in mural paintings from the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit.
“During my academic days, I was always at ease with sketches. There was a natural flow while doing murals. My professors pointed out that doing miniature works is my strength,” says Sreeja about how she got interested in this field where there are comparatively lesser number of women artists.
Among the collage of thirty works done in acrylic, oil colour and water colour, ‘Meera’, a painting of the ‘Bhaktha Meera’, inspired from the poem of Thulasidas is a beautiful work.
Another painting, ‘Shakunthala’, is also noteworthy for the harmonious blend of earthy colours like brown, green, yellow and orange. The ‘Pahari paintings’ of Sreeja are noticeable for the transparent costumes. “Transparent costumes are not prevalent here. Such costumes have a rich and classic look,” she says. Along with the mural works, there are other paintings as well, among which a deer in a forest is a show stealer.
This is the first solo exhibition of the artist who had done group exhibitions at different venues including Kerala Kalamandalam. The works of this talented artist adorn the walls of several temples and households. The exhibition will conclude this Wednesday.
