Date:02/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/09/02/stories/2005090212820200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Making art accessible

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: For K.V. Kale of Sandur in Bellary district, the eye has everything to do with one's style. He deliberately gives bigger eyes to his characters - people or animals - and achieves a fine blend of folk themes with modernism in his paintings.

"The eyes say a lot always," he explains. By giving a unique texture to the eyes of his characters, he makes them talk. His oil paintings somehow establish a mini dialogue with you quickly.

If "Nurturing" tells you something about rustic romance, "Boregouda with his bulls" invites you reinvent the vibrant relationship of man and animal. People with different expressions and their intense relationships take the shape of a painting, which Mr. Kale loves to call "Paraspara."

It was after studying the works of various artists and the traditions that he evolved his own style. Mr. Kale is putting up 30 of his works on show at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat from Saturday. His works are priced between Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 15,000. He says he has deliberately priced his paintings low. "I want to bring art closer to the common man," he explains.