Orthic 2020-22, a solo show by the veteran artist going on at Nanappa Art Gallery in the city; Painting exhibition includes works done during the pandemic
Orthic 2020-22, a solo show by the veteran artist going on at Nanappa Art Gallery in the city; Painting exhibition includes works done during the pandemic
A solo show by veteran artist and one of India’s leading abstractists T. Kaladharan, Ortho 2020-22, is underway at Nanappa Art Gallery in the city. The exhibition features works done during the pandemic. While the work of many artists reflects the shadow of COVID-19, Kaladharan’s art downplays the trend and does not reveal the trauma the world has gone through. He was the optimistic artist who knew this too shall pass.
Except for the small size of the 50-odd paintings, it seems that the artist just picked up the brush from where he left it, before the world stopped in its tracks. In one painting, an inked black line flows from top to center and curves around faces, figures, and flowers and overlaps with orange and red swirls. “I couldn’t stop drawing that line,” smiles the artist.
Artist Akkitham Narayanan at a painting exhibition by T. Kaladharan at Nanappa Art Gallery in Kochi on Monday. , Photo Credit: H. Vibhu
‘Gothic and Tantric’ is a multi-layered narrative that points to his earlier joyous series Vasantham, Summeram and Ashadam, Deep opulent colors and a batik style that have become trademarks of the artist dominate this painting.
For him, glass has been a favorite drawing board. Earlier they used pure glass but now acrylic glass boards provide a freedom. “Sometimes transparency is the epitome of illusion,” he says. But painting on glass is difficult because it has to create a reverse image. The acrylic glass boards on show are filled with a mix of shapes, motifs, animals and flowers and the frames are charged with motion from both the sweeping brush strokes and the vibrancy of the animated figures. “Acrylic paints for glass are transparent, they let the pictures come through,” explains the artist.
When the pandemic struck, Kaladharan locked himself in his house, which had a studio and a gallery. “I have health issues, so I completely isolated myself,” he says. He spent his time painting and viewing the large window “with horizontal grilles and vertical shutters”, which has surreptitiously penetrated his works. The window’s straight and gold patterns run parallel in some works and are combined to form geometric shapes in others. “These represent different perspectives,” says the artist, adding that the open window offered many interpretations of life during the pandemic’s closed years.
Kaladharan studied art and sculpture under eminent artists such as the late MV Devan, Namboothiri and Kannai Kunjiraman. He founded Keralakalapeedam in the 1980s to launch a movement that changed the way art was interpreted in Kerala.
The show is dedicated to late artist KC Chitrabhanu and was inaugurated by veteran artist Akkitham Narayanan on Monday. It will end on October 14.