ayyanthole paintings: canvas 2003

IMPASTO “TWELVE” An Exhibition of Indian Artists

IMPASTO

Indian Art from the very bigining of this century experienced a flux of inspiration both from contemporary and past experiences.By the standards of post- independence art situations it could be adjudged that Madras School created a distinct charactor. Unlike the western method of rendering “form as mass”, linear movement and “ rhythmic whole” were brought in by K.C.S. Panikkar and new attribution of two dimensional pictorial space was introduced. As the figures on the surface become free of the “ Burden of mass”, lines become energy field chromatic codes of culture, and the legendary charactor of the Indian line in painting was brought back. Sculptures of Madras School artists also become linear and less three dimentional. With masterly touch of contemporariness derived from living folk idioms a number of artists involved in this epoch- making observation and experiment. Though indiginious and provincial elements were the sources with an accentof the locale, western and Indian aspects were mixed.

Modern Indian Thanthric Art, the term used very often to quality the Madras School is a misnomer as it does not have anithing to do with the religio-philosophical cult and the esoteric rituals assossiated with it in ancient India.Madras School, however, has a well defined mode of abstract art that is thoroughly Indian. Their geometric configuration may be a derived visual quote from the good old thanthric diagrams, butit is an well derived from universal primary forms and patterns too It has affinities with modern abstract art also; and now it is looked at in national and international context. Here this is a major retrospective of the cream of works of Madras Schools artists of the present day.

Horizondally and vertically woven streaks of colour follow the lows of continuity and make one feel the harmony of visual Structure.

Individual image and form on the pictorial surface expand and contract, oscillate and pulsate, creating a tension between colour and space. The brush movement and the tone amalgamate into each other giving an overwhelming impact in rhythmic patterns.

(Text by: Vijaya Kumar Menon , in the catalog of “TWELVE”-An Exhibition of Indian Artists : Adimoolam . K.M, Akkitham Narayanan, Achuthan Kudallur, Babu Xavier, Bhagwan Chavan, Ebenezer Sunder Singh. H, Gopinath .P, Gouri Shankar, Hariram .V, Muraleedharan.K, Yusuf Arakkal and Ayyanthole Sekhar at Chithram Art Gallery Ernakulam in 1996)

SEARCH FOR THE SUBLIME

SEARCH FOR THE SUBLIME Ornamentation in itself is a technique & an aesthetic. The phenomenon permeates the Indian creative subconscious manifesting itself in art,architecture, sculpture, crafts & textiles. The trajectory of ornamentation carries with it the human civilisation & gets reflected in everything from lipsticks, eyeliners & nail polish to headgears & hairstyle.The Sacred & Profane sensuous & spiritual, nothing escapes it. There is no end to the embellishments:The Beautyhas no limits.
Sekhar Ayyanthole is an artist who breathes the philosophy of ornamentation: A philosophy for which life itself is an ornament of pure joy & a search for the sublime.Vegetating figures that sprout from one of the potent myths embedded in the class-caste consciousness of the Kerala Psyche, tiers of spiral foliage,aquatic life forms with a touch of the pre-historic, earth colours, ochre & brown, emerald greens, saffron & yellow- all weave into an intricate pattern acornucopia of organic life. Lines are not lines, colours are not colours,figures cease to be figures. Each speck of paint, every stroke of brush works towards a new chromatics of ornamentation. Paint thickened at places & colour beads of gold, silver, yellow, green, & white give a relief-like texture to the painting
His colour schemes draw liberally from Kerala’s ritual art of “KALAMEZHUTHU”a form Sekher,now 48,was adept at a younger age. The relief-like quality is also a charactoristic of the Kalams, especially of the goddes Kali. His argrarian roots & the myth of the‘Parayipetta Panthirukulam’that he reworks in his larger Canvases further nurture the palette.The birth of 12 clansfrom the maritalunian of a Pariah(Sambava)girl withtheBrahminVararuchi & the patriarchal rejection at birth are ingrained in the Malayali psyche.Every child the pariah girl gave birth to grew up as a unique mind with hisown philosophy.
In the myths meny of them are represented as personalities who questioned the existing social order, rituals & norms of spirituality: The NaranathuBranthen,UppukottanPakkanar, Rajakan,Uliyanur Thachan,Vallon,Pananar,Karakkalamma,Akavur Chathan,Vaduthala Nair,Vayilla Kunnilappan & Agnihothri. Each of these clans had deleanated jobs & a cultural history of itsown, a factor Sekhar brings out. In the work of ‘AGNIHOTHRI’ Sekhar juxtaposes the philosophies of Uppukottan,an embodiment of selfless service who carries salt in a boat & distributes it free to people in far off places & the Brahminism of Agnihothri who performs ritualistic offerings in the river. Fishes reject Agnihothri & flock near Uppukottan who feed them.The aquatic & vegetal motifs that repeat through the work arise from nature worship & nations of fertility.The figures of Dhathri & Matha that crop up in several of the smaller works are symbolic & abstract visual concepts of fertility
Binu Karunakaran (New Indian Express, 31-08-2002)

ayyanthole paintings

Sunday, December 2, 2007

valluvanadan folk forms