Art Houz, Coimbatore has kicked-off a Mural Painting Exhibition under the title Prakriti; 10 amazing artists from Kerala have displayed their creative works in this event which was inaugurated on 20.11.2019.
Almost all the paintings shared two similarities: they were in bright orange and they had many Hindu Gods and Goddesses as the theme. The exhibited mural paintings have evaded one small rule that most mural paintings follow – Murals are actually paintings that drawn directly on walls where as these were drawn on canvases.
Scenes of various Hindu Mythology like Lord Iyyapa riding his tiger along with its streak, Radha and Krishna adoring each other, a scenic reflection of Mahabharatham, Ganapathy in his uniqueness etc were exquisitely portrayed by the artists.
Some of the portraits which we found amazing had some unique touch to them. For instance, Panamanna Ganesh HOUZtwo paintings were drawn on the reverse side of glass panels. “Reverse painting on glass is a tough work. We cannot correct it if we commit any mistake. The visual that we want on the front view should be properly thought and kept in mind accurately for us to bring it while drawing it from behind.
A major advantage of such glass painting is that when we rub the dusts, the paints are on the inside and it would last for a long time”, said Panamanna Ganesh who is a 61 year old artist who began to draw at his 4th grade and after a great hiatus of 20 years he again started to draw while he was 43. He has participated in hundreds of exhibition and has drawn more than 50 art works. He was an inspiring talent.
A beautiful rendition of Mahabharata titled Geethopadesam drawn by siblings Ms.Ambili Thekkedath and by Mr. Sanu brought the epic scene in a surreal fashion. The duo is an incredible combination. They collaborated and the brother did the painting while the sister did the coloring. It took them 1 month to bring to life this piece. Two people doing a single art work needs greater coordination and the duo nailed it. Apart from collaboration works, they have their individual contributions which is a must see here.
One of the eye-arresting portraits came from Artist Veena Sanoj. Her work ‘Ganapathy’ was unique to my eyes because of few reasons like Ganapathy or if I use his Tamil Nadu name- Vinayagar; I have not seen him carry the Crescent Moon on his head or a snake around his neck or never have I seen him with three eyes in the recent times. “This is Ganapathy’s another form” assured Veena, who went on to explain more about Kerala Mural Paintings.
“Kerala Mural Paintings are basically Temple Arts and to do these painting the artists use only 5 colors – Black, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. While commercial Mural Paintings don’t follow this rule, when it comes to drawing for the temple, there are a few authentic and auspicious codes to follow.
A specific day is chosen to draw the picture. While drawing the Gods and Goddesses, their eyes are earlier drawn in closed state. At the end, another auspicious day is chosen where the eyes are drawn in open state. Since eyes are the state of life, they are given their opened state at the end. The artists believe that doing so will give the paintings their divine powers”, conveyed Veena.
Veena’s support comes from her husband Mr.Sanoj and child Dhruv. This artist’s paintings have been featured in Art Houz on several occasions and we found Mr.Sanoj in the side, supporting his wife’s aspiration. When we asked about what he thinks about his wife’s work, he said “Veena likes art and she like to visit art museums. I am not that much into art but I said that I’ll take her to art museums if she likes to visit. Then she started to do her own paintings. Doing household works is a huge task. She does all the work and then she paints in the night; sometimes up to 2 a.m.
At the end, the time that she has spent is worth it and it speaks a lot. I appreciate that she could support other artists too”
It was incredible to see so many talents with so many tales converge at Art Houz, Coimbatore.