KOCHI: Colours and textures together can have many varied meanings. That’s evident in the works displayed at the David Hall Art Gallery in Fort Kochi. Each frame makes a viewer feel something, transport them to distant lands, elevate them to the faraway skies and provides a view of the beautiful, rustic geography below, pulling them deep into the inner scapes of their minds. Simply put, they resonate with anyone who passes by.
The works by architects Shahna Shahul Hameed and Thomas Abraham are a revelation in the abstract, revealing unexpected secrets — sometimes deep within the viewers’ consciousness. Though their style of work ranged from portraits to landscapes, the couple joined hands four years ago to create something different. Abstract art doesn’t come under any set of categories. There are whole new worlds encompassed in each frame — some full of joy, others in turmoil, and some with bits of confusion.
Seeing the painting’s potential, Shahna and Thomas decided to exhibit it instead of cramming it up in their home. Fast forward to now, the duo is exhibiting their works under the title Winds Through The Prairie at David Hall.
The paintings are abstract expressions of the many states of mind, the artists explain. “Winds Through The Prairie is a wonderful place one longs to reach. It is peaceful and serene, moving and grounded, dancing and stationary, all at the same time,” the duo says.
Several hues of colours generously brushed on the canvas welcome the visitors. Up close, some fine details and textures are revealed. It all started with the painting titled Winds Through The Prairie, where the name and theme fell into place. According to the artists, more than the final paintings, it is the process they liked. “The free and swaing strokes, generous textures, the rustic finishing, all of these made us feel that we found our calling,” says Shahna.
“It has mild strokes of yellow and a tinge of blue with the texture of sand. It depicts grassland, the wind carrying sand and fine husks of dried leaves. The wind is the emotion and the prairie, the grassland, is the mind,” says Thomas. To create these textures, the duo used tools like palette knives, bare hands, cotton clothes, and sponges. Modelling pastes are also used to create cracks and openings.
What is striking is how Shahna and Thomas have used colours to hide secrets in their works. There are shades of white, yellow, and grey in one frame. At first glance, it is just an experimentation of varied tones, but as you look closely, the strokes reveal a horse.
Not all of them have such defined hidden elements. Another one, titled the Eye Of The Storm, in hues of purple is similar to a whirlpool, resembling the spiralling thoughts that sometimes trap you within your mind. Memory Lake shows the reflections on the water. “Though we painted them during different phases with different mindsets, each person can interpret them anyway. It will depend on their current state of mind,” says Shahna.
Several of these paintings have been reworked multiple times. Evidence of how the imagery kept changing with the mind of the painter. “Most of our works have other paintings underneath them. When we don’t feel that the work is complete we are compelled to change them, redo them,” says Shahna.
“They aren’t perfect but at least we have achieved what’s on our mind.”
Forest is the outcome of such reworks. The highly textured painting transitions to darker hues of green, depicting a thick dark forest. “Taking away the literal meaning, it can also mean a forest of ideas or a mind filled with thoughts,” adds Thomas.
As textures turn bold, anyone can see the rising confidence of the artists in experimenting, especially the painting Blue. “We believe these abstract paintings would leave an impression in people’s minds,” says the duo. And that is definitely true as one gazes into these artistically created colours and crevices.
The exhibition will conclude on October 2