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Saturday 25 August 2012

Untitled painting - opinions and comments?


This painting has been in the works for 3 years now.....the upcoming exhibition gave me the final impetus to finish it! I am not really sure what to call it. A few options that came to mind are Rage, Wrath of a Woman, Righteous Fury.... any suggestions?

I'll tell you what inspired it (other than my occasional need to vent!!). Silappatikaram is one of the 5 Great Epics in Tamil Literature. It was penned by the prince poet Ilando Adigal (I hope I spelled that right!) from the Chera Dynasty. He may have built upon an existing folk lore, but the epic is regarded as a work of Tamil genius. It is a fascinating story and alludes to Ionian(from Greece and Rome), Israeli, Egyptian, Arabian, Chinese and South East Asian influences on Tamil culture, from extensive trade relations. Unlike the Kingdoms of the Indo Gangetic plains, the Dravidakam kingdoms had a maritime culture and hence had extensive trade and diplomatic relations with other far away kingdoms.

The story revolves around the central female character of Kannagi who was married to Kovalan, a rich merchant in the Chola capital of Puhar. Kovalan takes up with Madhavi, a court dancer, with whom he moves in. They have a daugher, Manimegalai, too. Eventually he realises the error of his ways, splits up with Madhavi and reunites with Kannagi. By this point he has lost all of his wealth, having squandered it on Madhavi. They decide to leave Puhar and move to Madurai to start afresh.

Kannagi tasks Kovalan with selling her anklet (Silambu) for seed capital to start a new business in Madurai. He goes into city of Madurai and finds a goldsmith who is willing to buy it from Kovalan. Unknowing to both Kannagi and Kovalan, there is a search on for the Madurai queen's stolen anklet. the Goldsmith takes the anklet and brings Kovalan before the king who immediately orders for Kovalan's execution, without a trial. He is immediately killed. Kannagi hears of this and immediately comes to court. She breaks open the anklet the king believe's is the queen's and shows them that the anklet contains rubies, where the queen's contained pearls. In her fury, Kannagi tears out a breast and curses the entire city of Madurai to burn. Due to her chastity and righteousness, her curse becomes reality and the entire city, except for the old, the very young and the disabled, burns down.

The story continues for a bit after this, but I will not go into that detail..... because this is where my painting comes in. I must have read this about 10 to 15 years ago. But the sheer drama of the story stayed with me and was the first topic I thought of when I started painting abstracts! The painting, with broad sweeps of the reds and yellows, portrays the rage and righteous fury that Kannagi feels upon hearing of her husband's death.

So.... any suggestions on names? :) I am stuck!

Wednesday 22 August 2012

The Palanquin Bearers - I decided to name my painting after the poem that inspired me to paint it. There are few such poems that made such a strong impression on me, specially since I must have been in 6th or 7th grade when I did this in school. 


Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.

Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string. 


The palanquin Bearers are carrying a bride to her wedding and since the ultimate aim of the parents in ancient India was to get their daughters married and happily situated as soon as was possible, carrying a bride in a Palanquin on her wedding day was considered the ultimate privilege. Also, in ancient India it wasn't uncommon to find women married off at as young an age as 14 or 15. I've tried to portray this through a much younger, almost girlish bride.

Also, it is typical for a bride to dip her hands in ... and make an impression on the walls of the house she is going to enter. This is symbolic of the fertility that she brings in and the mark that she is about to make on the household. I've recreated the fresco of a well lived-in house in India where rains are often and hence common to see moss, mud tracks and smoke tracks on walls. 

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Working up to my first solo exhibition!



So........ after so many years of staunchly refusing to even consider blogging, I give in after all! :)

My first solo exhibition is due to start on the 11th October 2012. I am VERY excited about it and counting down to the big day! This is one of the paintings that will be exhibited. I've completed 6 so far, 6 are works in progress and another 6 are just ideas rattling around in my head.

All the PR is ready to go.... the press release is complete and has been emailed to the gallery and my website is nearly up and running... can't think of anything else that needs doing except for getting at least 15 of those paintings ready by then!