Date:30/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/fr/2005/12/30/stories/2005123001530300.htm

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Penchant for abstracts

BHAWANI CHEERATH

Austin Konchira's works represent a new phase in the artist's mindscape.

`Recent works' explore the depths and extent in relationships between individuals and man and nature.

COLOURFUL PHASE: Austin Konchira with one of his paintings. Photo: S. Gopakumar

The answers elude but the search continues for the artist. Austin Konchira's `Recent Works' on display at the Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhawan reveals a move away from his earlier representations. Opening out a new territory in the mindscape, he revels in the use of colours and space.

The restlessness continues to dominate; yet the pre-occupation seems to culminate in abstractions and two-dimensional expressions while moving away from his earlier interest in capturing the third dimension.

The `Recent Works' explore the depths and extent in relationships between individuals and man and nature. Often the frame has an illusive compactness achieved through the use of colours, but a closer look alerts one to the clefts that are subtle, but cannot be ignored. Ask the artist about the leitmotif of the 20 frames on display and he tells you that the distancing between individuals, the colonizing of the mind and the inroads into individual and social spaces stalk his thoughts.

While these dominate his creative expression, in the use of colours one finds he revels in dabbling with the bright and the dull, the gloomy and the lively shades, which vie for the viewer's attention.

He avers, `Earlier I relied on yellow and brown but now I find myself enjoying the use of all colours. Blue and green have now a greater presence in my works and it makes me happy."

From concrete to abstract

The consistent palette expression is altered by an occasional work in vibrant red and black dominating a smaller space.

The search for answers has, however, led to a moving away from concrete forms to abstractions. Not one to rely on symbols in his present collection, the artist does not disguise the predicament that dominates the present-day world.

The exploratory encounter between the self and the world is conveyed without the use of disturbing strokes or tones.

Large frames worked in oil and acrylic deploying tints of yellow, brown, and cool blues are inviting and arresting. The compactness and the sedate calm that prevails alongside the elusive search for a final answer endow the works with a seductive charm.