Artistic forms of Ganesha

A GROUP exhibition of paintings and sculptures by some known and some new artists are on at the Artworld (Ganeshpuram, III St., Cenotaph Road) till July 13. The senior most of the artists to display his works is T. Vishwanathan, whose favourite subject seems to be Ganesha. Several really small format paintings of the Lord, besides bigger ones reveal his flair for the subject. A couple of them show Ganesha springing forth from goddess Shakti. A couple of paintings follow the miniature paintings in the styling of human forms. The colour and finish are pleasant and attractive. On the whole his style and technique are an amalgam of some of his senior artists and some of his own contemporaries.

Sculpturesque human forms portraying rather surrealistic or psychological aspects of human life are the stamp of Ebenezer. Some of them intrigue and some upset the viewer, be it the paintings, etchings or drawings. His folio too follows the style of the artist Francesco Clemente, who is believed to be his inspiration - it has a copper cover with a high relief of human forms and inside are his paintings on paper. It is not known if the crude finish is deliberate.

Mixing saw dust and Fevicol, Ravi Krishnan creates pairs of human faces in relief and paints them with acrylic in shades of grey. The themes of his mixed-media works are the same, but these are a little more sensitive and also have interesting textured surfaces. The landscapes of K. Balamurli have a hazy appearance as if viewed through rain. He uses a fine and sensitive brushwork. There is nothing much to say about K. Usha's paintings of faces of groups of women.

Anjani Reddy has a colourful palette reminding one of a kaleidoscope. Her subjects in this show are a row of houses or their interiors. Sometimes one can see what is happening inside the house through an open door. Her compositions are more like colourful designs of geometric shapes.

The goats and rural scenes by Manoharan are delightful; the swift lines with the brush, depicting the animals in various attitudes, reveal how quick he is in grasping the essentials of their movements. No light and shade, no moulding, just the lines and they bring alive the entire scene.

A touch of solidity and ruggedness rules the stone sculptures of Rajasekharan Nair. The ruggedness is contrasted by the smooth finish through polishing of one side of the face, while the other side is left unfinished, with the broken edge of the stone top shown. Prominent features mark the faces of his sculptures.

LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN

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