At Sethubandhanam, an art exhibition at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Kochi, the eclectic tastes of three generations are on display. Art, to the family members, is a ‘sethu’ or a bridge that connects them.
The show opens with the works of the patriarch, who left behind a collection of creations. K Balasubramanian was a known figure in the art world — an artist, playwright, and illustrator.
His works, spanning from the early 1960s, have been proudly showcased here. Nearby, one can see creations by his children — Shalini B Menon and Kailash Menon. Different, yet a continuation of a creatively inclined family.
While Balasubramanian’s works mostly centre around illustrations published in magazines such as Chandrika and Mathrubhumi, his children’s works are in watercolour and acrylic, each on different tangents.
“See these strong lines, that’s something you can find in the art of those days,” explains Shalini, a painter and sculptor.
“He drew them with pencils and ballpoint pens, and each line stood out. It’s like creating magic. Most of his works were born out of necessity. They were part of work, the only source of income back then. He didn’t have the privilege of time to pursue art at leisure.”
From illustrations for short stories to comic strips, and the rare oil paintings and crayon works, the first hall of the exhibition is filled with Balasubramanian’s monochrome pieces.
It gets more colourful as one explores further. Kailash’s paintings capture the ‘hidden’ beauty of veils across cultures — the ghoonghat, hijab, and the mysterious faces behind them, in subtle elegance.
“It is a political subject. However, in my travels in Rajasthan, I came across many women who wear the veils, from various cultures. I just wanted to depict the beauty for now, the femininity, the colours and the atmosphere,” he explains.
The NIFT graduate has always worked in creative fields — textiles, fashion or art. And when he dedicates himself to pursuing art, inspiration comes from various quarters — mythology, culture, his travels, and personal experiences.
“You can see, along with a few paintings from my series Sisterhood, there are also a few works that admire the architecture of Jaipur,” he adds.
His most recent works — an unfinished series — are also displayed at the exhibition. Drawing inspiration from Operation Sindoor, the series explores women and the cultural practice of wearing sindoor (vermillion). In the charcoal works, the sindoor stands out in bright red.
The other side of the hall is slightly muted — beautifully so. Resplendent with the flowing beauty of watercolours, Shalini’s works are a nostalgic trip. Stories of childhood.
“My father always used to talk about Wadakkanchery in Thrissur. His stories were about the people, the serene life of those days, and the temple festival. I tried recreating them,” she smiles.
Memories are at the core of her works — her old family home (tharavadu) just before it was demolished, her aunts, her father’s kalan kuda (crook-handle umbrella), the hills welcoming a roaring rain...
“That’s what I love to paint — exploring the beauty and the melancholy of my memories, tales I heard, and the nature around us. However, I have also started experimenting nowadays,” she says, pointing to her most recent works — a bangle market, the familiar yet unfamiliar scene of a temple, and so on.
The exhibition is striking in its simplicity, be it the way the works are arranged or the way they were chosen. “I wanted it to feel intimate, close to heart, just like a family. It’s not a curated or elaborate show. But it’s ours, created, selected and exhibited by us,” says Shalini.
And Sethubandhanam succeeds in that. “It was our father who suggested holding this exhibition. In 2018, when we were all together at our home, he just expressed — why not? However, in 2020, my parents died within 19 days, putting a stop to all these plans. It was a hard time for us,” says Shalini.
None of the artists in the family, including Balasubramanian, ever learnt painting professionally. Everyone began their art journey purely out of interest, and continues out of passion.
“My background is in finance, Kailash was in the corporate sector, though related to creative art, and our father had tried a bit of everything creative. He had even won a Sahitya Akademi Award for his play Choli. Now, the next generation has also picked up their brushes,” Shalini smiles.
The third generation — Vishnu, Arpana and Agney, all college students — have also displayed their experiments with art here. Vishnu’s sports-themed multimedia collages, Agney’s little frames of sketches, and Arpana’s watercolour paintings hint at the family affair sustaining.
In a way, the thoughts, wishes, dreams, politics, and environment of three generations reflect in their art. And Sethubandhanam has aptly bridged them — with hearts and all the chaos of a family.
