Date:09/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/09/stories/2006100907180200.htm

New Delhi

Speaking through the visual medium

Mandira Nayar

DEFT STROKES: A painting by George. K.

NEW DELHI: It's a tribute to the music of the swinging seventies. A retro pick of sorts, the rock and roll music of the most popular boy band the Beatles and the raspy drawl of Bob Dylan has found an echo in an exhibition of photographs "Song Sung Blue'' by George. K. Coming from a business background, George has decided to express his creative style through the visual medium. From realistic pictures of Kashmir to paintings, he has tried to capture the different moods of more than just the Valley. Having travelled to Kashmir after the devastating earthquake, his pictures really capture the twin faces of the State. From its peaceful side with women walking the street to the ugly side of violence and barbed wires, George's exhibition is picture-perfect and more. A good way to remember the earthquake a year later, George has super-imposed his pictures with his trademark with the post-modern idea of graffiti. He also has pictures of Kashmiri girls overwritten with the inspired Beatles lyrics, another aspect to his `graffiti'.

George has also found an outlet to his creativity with a series of paintings. Titled "Kashmir to Kanyakumari'', he has used bill-board artists as aids. In his paintings he has chosen to focus on the invisible with the trans gender -- Hijras. With the tradition of the `hijras' coming together in a temple in South India to re-live the moment of `Aravan' in Mahabharata still continuing, George has represented the scene in his painting. His exhibitions "Song Sung Blue'' and "Kashmir to Kanyakumari'' are on display at Garden Theatre at Triveni Kala Sangam. The exhibition will be on view till October 15.