There is a nihilistic wit at display at the group exhibition of six Kerala artists at Travancore art gallery at Kasturba Marg. ‘Through the viewfinder’ comprises 24 works by six Kerala artists, whose canvases are edged with an undercurrent of disenchantment and a rebellion with the system. Kerala-based Shaju Nellai’s works hint at landless farmers and the feudal land distribution system while Bengaluru -based artist MP Nishad digs into history for his Imponderable Evidence series. There is a haunting image of Vietnamese woman being shot at gun-point. Parade, watercolour on paper, is populated by images from history such as the iconic image of a muscle man by established American artist Barbara Kruger. It also depicts local mythological images such as the “donkey” revered as a symbol of good luck in a few households in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, artist-photographer Gireesh GV cranks out vignettes from the day-to-day life he encounters on his sojourn as a photographer. Ask how the switch from photography to art happened, and GV says, “Photography happened much later, a way to bolster the artistic ambitions. I am a trained painter from the college of fine arts in Kerala. The reason I took up photography in 1997 was that there was a downturn and nobody was buying artworks.” His work includes a collection of 16 small format paintings in oil, titled Shock of the times, silence carved out, and enchanting ecstasy. The other artists in the exhibition are TG Jyothilal, Vijaygopal.
