Strokes of togetherness

KOCHI: It was that rare occasion when different artists, young and old, from all over Kerala camped together for a day on November 11. Each of them worked on one painting of their own through the day. And even though it was an individual effort , their combined works were imbued with the stroke of togetherness. The thirteen camp paintings have since then been exhibited at the Nanappa Art Gallery till December 5. Veteran artist Nampoodiri's painting, 'Damodaran', shows little Krishna tied with a damam (thread) to the grinding stone, even as there is a wink on his eyes. He can be seen dragging two trees with the help of the thread. The two trees are two 'asuras' which are given moksha by Krishna. M V Devan's 'Guruvandanam', drawn in pen and ink has the illustrations of two ladies and a young boy watching them intensely. The artist says, they are his two teachers, Achayi and Theyyamma Unden who had taught him at Kunnamkulam and Kannur and the boy is Devan himself. The artist says the idea was born out of his respect for his gurus. Rajan M Krishna's painting 'Plant of sustenance' that shows a banana plantain, springs from the artist's idea of portraying the common, everyday trees and plants we see around us. “They are part of our support system," says Rajan. Environmental concerns figured high in most of the paintings. Like artist Pramod Koorambala's 'Red Stone',  that portrays red rocks and a caged parrot hanged from a tree. Pramod says he wanted to focus on the pathetic condition of our villages which have long since lost their serene beauty because of man's interference. The parrot symbolises life and the caged parrot stands for the handicapped way in which man leads his life. K K Rajappan's 'Kadal' is an abstract painting that shows a sea. Rajappan says, "As a child during the rainy season I used to sit in the courtyard enjoying the rain. I used to float paper boats in the rain water and would think  the water I was playing in was the sea. Only later did I understand what the real sea was. Through my painting one can feel the movement of the sea. The painting is a journey to my childhood. I have adapted graphic print technology in this painting," he says. C N Karunakaran, 'Waiting' Mohammad Ali's acrylic painting 'Woods' , G Rajendran's 'Two Faces' and C N Karunakaran, 'Waiting' Kaladharan's orthic work titled 'Bharani', N N Rimzon's 'House near the pond', Suresh Koothuparambu's 'Lady with Nature', Razia Tony's 'Sambhuti Asambhuti' are some of the other paintings on display.D Ajoy Kumar's work 'Salt Field', a graphic painting done in acrylic shows Taiwanese workers working in the salt field, a scene uncommon here. The painting had been done in the backdrop of sky blue colour. [email protected]