Art Scene India: Karnataka art

Showing posts with label Karnataka art. Show all posts

7 Jan 2020

A Journey Into The Past

Nostalgia in Stone

Manjunath Wali’s recent series of paintings depicts landscapes around prominent heritage sites, primarily those located in and around Karnataka, capturing their essence. He brings alive these landscapes that have withstood the passage of time, imprinted with narratives from a distant past.

All works in this series have been rendered plein air, on site, in an effort to represent the ephemeral atmosphere, the changes in light and colour, and effects of light and shadow prevailing at the place. The vulnerability of the monuments and the locations are evident in the rendering; the onsite painting emphasizing the immediacy and transient nature of the event and locale.

The artist’s hometown Vijayapura, and Gadag, where he studied art, are important historical places with several specimens of Chalukya and other significant articulations in close proximity, which kindled Wali’s interest in history and architecture. Combined with his artistic sensibilities, these have formed a recurrent muse for him. Wali’s fascination with these locales has resulted in repeated visits to Hampi which have materialised in this body of work and form a large part of it.

‘Nostalgia in Stone’ captures the paradoxes associated with the sites - the fragility and notions of (im)permanence of the monuments constructed in stone, and the associations with culture and heritage as tangible artefacts. Wali adopts a naturalistic approach, with a focal point, and illusion of details in the foreground, allowing the backdrop to diffuse and recede into the distance.

The soft, sentimentalized atmosphere and the play of light form a sharp contrast to the stone monuments that heighten their frailty and vulnerability. The numerous surviving ruins of Badami, Hampi and neighbouring areas - the Agastya lake, Hemakuta hill, Virupaksha temple, the watch towers, Lotus Mahal and the famous Garuda Shrine are some of the historical landmarks depicted in the paintings.

The morning light, the glorious sunsets and the afternoon shadows frolic amidst the ruins to render an enchanted image, recapturing some of the lost grandeur of the place. The sparkling pools of reflection from the water bodies, dazzling temple gopurams in the sunlight, the view from the watch towers, the glorious Garuda Shrine in the form of a chariot in the Vittala Temple complex that appears to be monolithic, offer glimpses of a magical past.

Wali’s body of work, a visual artistic documentation, is a significant attempt to emphasize concerted efforts required for conservation and preservation of heritage*.

*Excerpt from the catalogue text by Nalini S Malaviya

‘Nostalgia in Stone’ is on at Reves Art Gallery, Bangalore till 12th Jan 2020

All images are courtesy the artist

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19 Sept 2019

Timeless Narratives by Veteran Artists

Veterans’ Vision, as the name suggests, presents paintings by three senior artists from Bangalore. The collection featuring recent works by CS Krishna Setty, Chandranath Acharya and U Bhaskar Rao, encapsulates their unique visual vocabulary and individual voices, ranging from intimate and societal fantasies and apprehensions to vignettes from mythology and tradition.

Krishna Setty’s metaphorical visuals interlace complex narratives around contemporary concerns. The forceful surrealistic imagery from his previous series has undergone transformation and depicts a perceptible shift towards abstraction. The hybrid creatures have receded and the recurring motifs and symbols have acquired ambiguous connotations, and are often hieroglyphic.

The mix-media works display significant textures and patterns, employed as an aesthetic device, and are remnants of the artist’s printmaking practice. The ambiguity of the hieroglyphs allows multiple readings into humanistic and existential angst, at the individual and a larger societal level. Fossilized remains or perhaps birthing grounds of indistinct forms, represent dreams or desires to form crucibles of compound visuals and narratives. The intense landscape generated, eerie and ethereal is disquieting, an infinite cauldron of life and consciousness with its associated anxieties.

Chandranath Acharya’s satirical commentary on the present political, social and psychological spectrum is situated at the threshold of fantasy and reality. His visual idiom combines a rare witticism with playfulness and surrealistic imagery. Royal figures, resplendent and clad in jewels and finery, indulge in ordinariness, a juxtaposition of opulence with the mundane, with undercurrents of satire and humour.

Larger than life figures, surrounded by fantastical objects and creatures, form imposing portraits filled with pomposity, absurdity and grandeur. Decadence and mortality come together in a single frame with incongruous imagery, in incredibly sumptuous detail. Human conditions and emotions in all its exuberance, transience and intricacies, are portrayed adeptly with an underlying sense of mischief and tenderness. His extensive work in illustration and printmaking are clearly evident in the paintings.

Bhaskar Rao’s protagonists are primarily derived from mythology and visual and performing culture. These often narrate specific and recognizable instances and episodes, chronicling fragments of oral traditions and culture. Rooted in realism, with stylised and illustrative forms, vignettes from native landscapes, myths and mythology and traditions and rituals, etched in memory through time, are represented on the canvas.

The puppets form a popular leitmotif in his narration, a juxtaposition of the inanimate with the sentient and as an instrument of storytelling. Performance as an expression of human nature, culture and experience, and its associated connotations with social, philosophical and spiritual perspectives acts as a symbol of representation.

The exhibition continues till September 22 at Fidelitus Art Gallery, Bangalore

All images courtesy the artists and gallery

Excerpted from the catalogue text by Nalini Malaviya

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19 Dec 2018

JS Khanderao retrospective at NGMA Bengaluru

'through the window: JS Khanderao retrospective' an exhibition curated by NGMA Bengaluru is currently on in the city

By Shraddha Nair

The exhibition showcases around two hundred artworks of JS Khanderao which includes drawings, portraits, landscapes, abstracts, and folk. This exhibition explores the practice of Khanderao for more than four decades as a painter and also exposes his remarkable contribution to the art field as a tutor, founder of an art institute 'The Ideal Fine Art Society' established in 1963 in Gulbarga which is of great significance.

Born in 1940 in Gulbarga, Khanderao graduated from the JJ School of Art in Mumbai. Highly regarded for his realistic portrait paintings and landscapes, and as an accomplished painter of evocative portraits and atmospheric landscapes, the retrospective offers a glimpse into his journey.

Khanderao's artistic quest leads him to abstraction as well. He looks at nature and his immediate surroundings through the lens of abstraction, with a careful construction of his canvases. His abstract paintings link his trajectory from Gulbarga to “Bombay”- Nutan Kala Mandir and the J.J.School of Art _one of the premier art schools established in the colonial era, this art school became a benchmark for artists from outside the state. The vast oeuvre of Khanderao's includes figuration influenced by the unique folk traditions of North Karnataka capturing the performative situations of the folks who are represented in abstract planes of colours.

Being a native of Karnataka, Khanderao spent much of his life documenting the land and culture that he experienced first-hand. His visual renditions of the traditional folk practices are a treat for the eyes. A personal favourite was his depiction of the Chowdamman Kunita ritual. He has also brought plain canvas to life with the unique landscapes of Badami, Pattadakal, Surpur & Hampi – portraying the stunning styles of ancient temples.

Also on display is the series ‘Windows’, a sequence of paintings inspired by the way light escapes through glass panes. It is arguably his most highly regarded work. When asked about the conception of this series he says, “There was an annual Karnataka exhibition and I needed to create some new work for it. While in Gulbarga, I noticed the beauty of broken windows and imagined it and rendered in paint. I received the Lalit Kala award for this painting in 1982… This painting impressed many people during the exhibition. It was the first of the series ‘Windows’ and it was the Governor of Karnataka that encouraged me to take this further”. “Broken Glass” from the same series stands out for its brilliance. There is a tactility to this piece which draws you in, visceral and enchanting at the same time.

The unexpected takeaway from the show was his series of portraits, dating circa 1985 to 2006, which showcases his incredible understanding of light and dark components of each and every pigment that touched his canvas. Khanderao explains,“I experimented a lot with colours and would make many pieces. I didn’t want other people’s influence or similarity to other artists’ works in my own art. It should be unique and individualistic”.

The exhibition will be on view till 30th December 2018, daily from 11.00 am to 6.30 pm (Mondays and National Holidays closed)

Update: The exhibition is extended to Jan 20, 2019

Images: Courtesy NGMA

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About: Shraddha Nair is a recent design school graduate with a fondness for art, art history and is a believer in the potential of art as a community influencer.

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