Here, he paints life in varied hues

THIRUVANATHAPURAM:

Medical photography

cannot always be an enjoyable hobby as you might be exposed to horrors and mangled mess on a regular basis. If just the thought of it is hard to digest, imagine taking such photographs one after the other as part of your job.

It was in such a situation, around 40 years ago, Kanakasanan P started spending time with paints and colours at home to free his mind of those horrid visions. Eventually he became a painter, one who regularly attempted on unique ideas and who used various objects that came handy at home to paint with.

Kanakasanan's solo exhibition and sale of his paintings at KCS Panicker Art Gallery, Museum, feature around 100 paintings, and the exhibition was inaugurated by noted artist B D

Dathan

on Wednesday in the presence of Kerala Lalithakala Academy member Karakkamandapam Vijayakumar. The exhibition is open to the public from 10am to 7pm on all days till February 11.

Though the exhibition does not have any specific theme, most of the paintings, except for four or five works, are done in acrylic. Kanakasanan believes that people will lose interest when paintings are based on a particular theme, which in turn will affect the sale. "I retired from medical photography around 20 years ago, and ever since, I have shifted my focus to paintings. My style is time consuming and often it takes three days to complete one work," he said.

The 75-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram also employs plenty of self-made techniques such as the use of playing cards for knife paintings and comb tips for adding stroke effects. A knife work painting on Sabarimala issue is also part of the exhibition, which features multilevel perspectives on the hardships women will have to face in the context of the court verdict. "The thalimala (wedding chain) and pottu (bindi) are used in this painting to ask a question: If equality is what women want, shouldn't men wear both pottu and thalimala?" asks Kanakasanan.

Based on dimension, the price of paintings on sale ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 15,000. But, Kanakasanan is ready for negotiations, as his happiness lies more in seeing his paintings adorning walls rather than the money they could fetch.