All for art

Beauty might be transient, yet enticing. An artist’s eye can catch them anywhere, at anytime. A set of paintings displayed inside Museum Auditorium by 15 artists of Traditional Arts and Charitable Society, Thirumala, absorbed the beauty in many things; be it people, environment, art or tradition. Many of the works treaded the realms of realism, capturing life as it is sans any figment of imagination.

From temple art to water colour and pen and paper drawings, each artist utilised their medium to the fullest. To pick a few, murals of Radha-Krishna and Ananthasayanam; portraits of Mother Teresa, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai and actor Sreenivasan; re-creations of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings such as ‘Here Comes Papa’, ‘Hamsadamayanthi’ and ‘Sakunthala’ and depiction of Christ’s last supper were worthy enough to catch many eye balls.

The artists also find their subjects during their outings on Sundays or holidays which they undertake as a team. Such occasions are utilized for observing closely anything worth a gaze and they often provide them with the much-needed impulse for artistic rendering.

The painting of N K Sunu was done in this way when the team visited Aruvippuram. This is one among a few abstracts displayed there. The theme was derived from Sreenarayana Guru’s act of installing Lord Shiva’s Idol for lower caste people to worship, which he called ‘Ezhava Siva’. The painting shows a divine glow spreading to the surroundings, symbolising the reformation created in society.

The Last Supper was represented by two artists, one drawn in colour had Christ and his disciples before a sumptuous feast whereas the other one done with ink pen, highlighted other aspects.

Sometimes, it is like poetry, the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, as seen in a painting by Manoj T.

The work, done before the government Secretariat in the city during a protest staged by the Society for the cause of Mullaperiyar, it shows the deluge, which may occur as an aftermath of the outbreak of the water reservoir. And in the painting, it is seen swallowing the surroundings, people and their belongings.

The artists who participated in the exhibition were C M Velayudhan, Vinil, Col. Sadasivan, Ravikkaran C B, Soman Parassala, Manuj Brahmapaad, S Kumara Das, Anil Venganoor, Oommen Koshi, Mahesh T, M S Kumar, N K Sunu Kovala, Parameswaran, Rajan Thirumala and Geetha R Nair. The five-day exhibition concluded on Sunday.