43 Malayali artistes showcase works in state capital

An exhibition by 43 Malayali artists, titled Contextual Cosmologies, went up in the state capital last week as part of Keraleeyam. Curated by Bose Krishnamachari, Anushka Rajendran, Premjish Achari and Sujith SN, the exhibition, which is likely to be open till the end of this month, is underway at the College of Fine Arts gallery.

Speaking about setting up the venue to maximise the impact of the works, Bose says, “There was not much professionalism when it comes to exhibitions here, even though we have large spaces, such as this, available. At international galleries, the floor will be grey, and the walls often white. We have boarded up the windows and re-designed the exhibition areas a bit to make sure that the art is exhibited well. We call these white cube spaces, which are the perfect set up to display art works. There should be more such spaces with international standard in the state," says Bose, who had requested the setting of this exhibition of Malayali artists. “We have incredible artists and and various mediums here; this is like a juxtaposition of the known and unknown," he adds.

Unnikrishnan C, an artist from Palakkad who has participated in the Kochi Muziris Biennale and the Sharjah Biennial, is excited to have his work at this show. He says, "My paintings are a depiction of my day-to-day life and the practices in my native place. I use bricks as my canvas. I paint on bricks in my walls at home too. I started it when I was facing problems that could be shared. I was very depressed one day and threw some water on the brick in my room. It absorbed the water and somehow that was the beginning, a connection was established. I started painting on bricks with acrylic paint and continue to do it even now."

Another artist, a sculptor from Payyanur, Jigesh Kumar is showcasing earthen sculptures. "My works explore time and space, and the changes that happen. People often ask if I brought my work after finding it somewhere and working on it. That's not the case. I work on them from scratch and bring them the natural, earthen look. For example, the mounds used here were made by me, but people are surprised at the naturality of it. These works are close to earth and show natural evolution," he says.