Daiijworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)
With Inputs from Media Release
Mangalore, May 28: 'Poetics of Existence', an exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Kandan G was inaugurated at Orchid Art Gallery here on Tuesday May 27.
The exhibition will continue till June 7.
The exhibition features a unique collection of 25 paintings and 40 drawings. The gallery is open 10:30 am to 7 pm, except on Sundays.
Chief guest Dr Akthar Hussain, who is also a veteran artist, inaugurated the exhibition.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Hussain said, "Art works did not attract the market in the olden days. The survival of artists was hard but things have changed now. Today, a lot of encouragement has been given to artists, creating markets to sell their artworks. Kandan is a creative and optimistic artist."
Artists Gopadkar, U Ramesh Rao, Yajna, Ganesh Somayaji were among others present at the occasion.
About the paintings and drawings
The poetics of the media emerge as the prominent keynote in Kandan G’ s paintings. The people and the media play a crucial role in shaping the destiny of the society. It is a fact that we get to know the events around us through media and to a large extent are forced to believe it.
The crow, a predominant feature in the current series of Kandan G's works, act as a symbolic metaphor. The crow as a messenger in the time bygone is taken as reference point for the media. According to Hindu beliefs, the crow acts as a mediator between the living and the departed. Its role as the communicator between the abstract and the real is well-known.
The crow which renders selfless service, seems to throw an enquiry at the current state of the media. The paper rocket illustrates the speed at which information and news is disseminated. The railway track, another symbol in the series is also about ease with which people can commute from one place to the other, forming stronger human relationships. But the circumstances in the
current society are deliberately made chaotic, making things challenging.
There is mystery surrounding almost all kinds of political and public dispositions. The independent thoughts of an individual is more important than the freedom of the nation. An independent individual of thought can form a wonderful society by a giving tranquil feeling to the individual. The present politics does not allow free thought. Most of the paintings displayed hold a mirror to media, politics and society.
The drawings, in a sharp contrast, offer another dimension of human existence. The desirability of overcoming inequality in every sphere emerges as a key point. The disposition of the limbs and posture of figures constructs a silent dialogue ranging from harmonious elegance of pure affection, to heightened peak of sensual desire or extreme emotions at times.
The male-female equations are well brought out in the drawings. The happiness, melancholy, enragement is brought out in distorted body forms. The role of a female as a form of power is alluded in the drawings. The meaninglessness in normal circumstances becomes meaningful.
The spirituality, quest for knowledge, relationship between humans and nature, connection with the unknown, philosophy of Buddha all make a statement in the drawings.
Kandan G has worked in different media like acrylic on canvas, mixed media on wooden board with minimum colours. The canvasses and drawings collectively unite to build a statement of human existence or it may be said that they present parallel chapters in a novel, where each segment is dotted with characters different from the rest. In totality the whole body of work does possess a potential to hold or propose to hold mirror to life's myriad forms.