Paintings show Jayalalithaa in different light

At the art exhibition at the university, the first art piece is that of a Thanjavur painting of a young Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, wearing a hair band.

Around 19 Thanjavur portraits of her were on display. In some of the paintings, her filmy avatar was captured during 1970s while in others she is donning the role of Chief Minister. One of them was on her meeting with former United States secretary Hilary Clinton and in some other with Mother Teresa.

Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, a Jayalalithaa fan, visited the gallery only to catch a glimpse of her portraits. He has a huge collection of all her photographs from her movies.

“The paintings are really good. I am her fan because of her political agenda and not because she was in movies,” he said. There are in total 80 Thanjavur paintings and 200 contemporary arts. School education minister K.C. Veeramani inaugurated the exhibition along with Veena E. Gayathri, vice-chancellor of the university, on Monday.

The exhibition will continue till August 10. Apart from the two types painting there was a third form, which was known as mix media.

The contemporary arts on the other hand are based on abstract themes. Some represented yoga while some others showed the oil paintings on the canvas of burst of colours without any theme as such. Artist Achutan Kudallar said he is into non-figurative paintings. “The artists need more exposure as in Chennai people hardly walk into galleries. I hope from these events they get more recognition.”