THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: You can see the reflections of the colourless contemporary society in the works of Sebastian Poduthas, Haris Babu C C and R Jayanth Kumar.
“Reflections Colourless,” a painting exhibition by the three artists, at Durbar Hall Art Centre, Ernakulam attracts our attention to the current social issues.
“Just as the name suggests, we are trying to portray the reflections of the colourless contemporary society and that’s why we choose our works to be in black and white,” says Sabastion Poduthas.
32 works on various themes have been exhibited here as part of the celebration of their 32- year-long friendship. This is the first exhibition exclusively being done by the three artists. They, however, have done over 20 group exhibitions along with other artists in and around Kerala.
Each artist have chosen a particular theme for his works. There is 13 works by Jayanth, 10 by Haris and 9 by Sabastion.
The works in the exhibition depicts the issues through a different perspective, there is a pinch of sarcasm too.
Issues like animal abuse, ban on beef, threats faced by secularism, kiss of love, moral policing and male dominance are some of the themes of approached by the artists.R Jayanth Kumar has tried to picture the beatings that secularism has taken through his works.
He says, “Every religion came from one tree. It has just grown out into different branches. That’s what we have to realise and that’s what I have tried to portray.”
The society which is in the clutches of urbanization has been showcased through Haris Babu’s works. By portraying an elephant in a different way, Harris tries to question animal abuse and another portrait depicts Lord Siva and Budha concurrently. “It’s all about one’s perception,” adds Haris.The invisible chains which ties us without even our conscious knowledge from the very moment of our birth till our death has been captured in the works of Sabastion Poduthas.
“Today people get killed in the name of animals. There has occurred a reversal of conditions. Animals have the conditions that aptly should be applied for a man, while the latter has been digressed to that of an animal’s,” says Sabastion about his work on the beef issue. A look through these works would make one think of the current issues and that is what an artist expects.