Chalet’s collection of paintings, ‘The Inner Escape’, displays his experiments with various techniques
Chalet’s collection of paintings, ‘The Inner Escape’, displays his experiments with various techniques
Chalet MS, a dentist, did not face any teething problems when he started painting. A self-taught artist, she turned to mesh to understand the techniques of color, mixing, and painting.
More than 40 of his acrylic and oil works were displayed in the museum’s auditorium for his solo exhibition, ‘Intrinsic Escape’. Abstracts of various sizes also showed his delight for words, as each work had an interesting title that shed light on the painting and invited the viewer to reflect on the works.
‘Into the Forest’, a set of three acrylic paintings in shades of black, blue and other colors, has hints of gold here and there. The three works showcased her skill at Impasto, in which she creates density by adding layers of paint.
Keeping in mind the festive season is a painting of the mythological king of Kerala ‘Mahabali’, whose annual visit to his kingdom is celebrated as Onam.
A painting by Chalet MS from an exhibition in India Today, Thiruvananthapuram. photo credit: special arrangement
One of the best works in the collection is ‘India Today’, an oil painting that brings to life Tagore’s famous lines ‘Where the world is not broken into pieces, by narrow domestic walls’. Chalet’s work depicts a world of fragmented spaces, between which it is possible to indicate what may have caused that division. Discussions and judgments about the food we eat and the way we worship and dress are some of the issues he has addressed.
‘Where the Butterflies Go’ is a delightful masterpiece, in which flowers and butterflies feel like bursts of bright colors on the canvas.
From an exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram where butterflies come’, a painting by Chalet MS. photo credit: special arrangement
Although the artist has played with various techniques, his favorite appears to be Impressionism. Many of his paintings feature sources of light playing hide-and-seek in the mix of colors. ‘With the Mountains’, ‘The Falling Moonlight’ and ‘After the Storm’ are some of his other works that highlight the same style. This technique is also well suited to his purpose of interpreting his feelings and beliefs on canvas.