Rooted in tradition

M. PAKKIRI obtained his diploma in Fine Arts from the College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, in 1957 and a diploma in Crafts (Design) in 1953 from the same institution. His paintings, on show at the Lalit Kala Akademi till April 22, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., are very colourful in a pleasing manner. He has a fondness for the ancient style of painting from Thanjavur. Some of his water colour and acrylic paintings also resemble the Kalamkari cloth screens in figuration and colouring.

The human forms in the Puranic themes like the Urdhvatandava Nataraja, Ramapattabhishekam or the folk gods and in subjects from everyday life, particularly the rural areas like the ballon vendor, the man who earns his living with a monkey or a decorated bull (boom-boom madu), a snake charmer, a village couple or a woman doing her usual chores, are all stylised as they are done in the traditional manner. They abound in minute decorative details like those in leather puppets.But the animals are very natural. In fact he even follows the conventional colour schemes as per the Sastras for the various gods like blue-green for Vishnu, red for Shiva etc.

While in the paintings portraying scenes from the epics or Puranas, Pakkiri tries to convey a sense of grandeur, the everyday scenes in small format are charming.

Pakkiri has also tried a contemporary approach in a few paintings while forming the human and animal forms, with a half-hearted attempt even at cubism. Though he can paint in oils also, he prefers the water medium.

LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN

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