If you were asked to interpret God and spirituality through art, what would you do? Six artists, this week, were presented with a similar question and their answers are now part of the art show Mystical Renditions.
Lakshmi Nambiar, who heads Shrishti Art Gallery, was curious to know how people interpreted God and when she proposed the idea to artists, they jumped at the chance.
“Each of us has a different understanding of God and spirituality and I knew that when this was translated into art, it would be a great subject,” explains Lakshmi, who contacted the artists two-and-a-half months ago.
But, that’s not the only highlight of the show. The artists — Anand Gadapa, Nagesh Goud, Nirmala Biluka, Ramesh Gorjala, Sayam Bharath Yadav and photographer Manjunath Kalledevar — have all broken away from their signature style for the creations.
Sayam Bharath Yadav for instance, who is known for his bull series, created an artwork far from his signature style. “I took inspiration from the 16th century pahadi paintings. I focussed on the miniature form of painting and recreated the saga of Goddess Durga killing Mahishasura. Through this I also got to depict a bull in the artwork,” says Bharath.
As you go through the various images of Gods in the exhibition, two works stand out. The subject in the work is demon Raavana. Artist Anand Gadapa, who created the works, says that he was always fascinated by Raavana.
“We know only the evil side of Raavana, so I did some research to find his other side. Though a demon, he had a lot of knowledge and I have depicted that side of him through my art,” he explains.
And true enough, you can find one art work where Raavana’s nine heads are replaced by various animals and his body is coloured in two shades.
“The various animals are the vahanas of the navagrahas, I painted them because Raavana has control over them. Also, Raavana was known to control the day and night, hence I chose to show that as well,” he adds.
Photographer Manjunath’s photos of the Kumbh Mela are something that stole the show — especially, three works that have recurring images.
“I visited the Kumbh Mela in 2013, there I found that all the sadhus were doing their japas. The work with recurring images is my interpretation of japas. Also, though the photos look like abstract art work, on a closer inspection, one can tell that they are photos mixed with art,” he adds.
