Projects

During 2014, I had the opportunity to attend this camp at Bangalore, where a selected twenty famous and upcoming artist camp from different states of India. The camp was inaugurated by famous contemporary artist Yusuf Arakkal. I make a 4’ x 5’ Nature alive panting for CMRIT artist exhibition. Medium I used was acrylic on canvas. The theme of the subject was a central tree motif that holds a host of birds and other creatures, symbolizing the abundance and fretfulness of nature.

Artist who attended the Camp were – Shivi Sharma, Girish B Kulkarni, Gurusiddappa GE, Anamika V, Appanna Pujari, Jayakumar G, Nilanjana Nandy, Srinivasa Reddy, Mhesh Baliga, Sujata Sah Sejekan, Sumana Som, Gubenddhiran K, Thirumala Thirupati, Kirti Chandak, Ajay Kothavale, Vishnu P.V, Thejendra Sing Baoni, JMS Mani, Prasanna Kumar and Atanu Mukherjee.

Traditional Wall Mural Painting Inspired by Indian Epics

Starting of 2014 I had assisted one of my Guru Sri Suresh K Nair, (Assit Prof Banaras Hindu University, Painting dept) for Aurveda Hospital In Bangalour. We together completed two mural paintings for the hospital. These hand-painted wall murals were designed for the entrance and visitor rooms. The subject of the painting was selected by Suresh K Nair. The painting – Gajalakshmi was for entrance and for the visitors room  he selected a meditative wall mural painting reflecting symbolic themes (which is his creative style) which took 4 days of hard work.

Discovering Thai Mural Painting and Temple Art – A Cultural Study Tour

Five students including me had been sent to Burapha University for the detailed  study of paintings and sculptures. We take this opportunity to thank the teachers and students  of Bhurapha University  for their  kind cooperation  and consideration.

One of the most impactful experiences was observing the Suvarnabhumi Airport’s Palazhimadhanam installation and other artwork made using gold leaf. This opened our eyes to the deep spiritual and artistic value of gold in Buddhist mural art, much like the sacred elements found in Kerala mural art and Indian traditional painting. In both traditions, storytelling through wall art plays a vital role in preserving history and spiritual values.

For the  study purpose we visited several Buddhist temples . The most attractive and beautiful among them was the gold decorated  murals and sculptures of Wat phra  kaew temple in Bangkok. Most of the mural paintings are based on Ramayanam stories. We saw very minute and detailed work in each and every painting. Much similarity  could be seen between indian traditional painting and Thailand mural painting.

In Thailand, they use natural colours  for mural paintings. They prepare walls by giving a coat of the  mixture of jaggery, lime and other mixtures from nature. The most attractive  feature is  the fixing of gold on the ornaments of their paintings.

We copied the traditions of Thai mural paintings which we feel most attractive to our books and then to canvas. The graceful composition, color harmony, and symbolic details of Thai mural painting left a lasting impression on us and continue to influence our artistic practice.

The sanctuary  of truth in Pattaya which is fully made up of Teakwood  was the most beautiful  and exciting building in Thailand. The sculptures  in this building  are based on the three god concepts  of Hindus and the concepts of Buddhism. The minute and exciting work of this building had started since 1980 and expecting to be completed by 2050.

The colourful  paintings, the beautiful  sculptures and other  handicrafts  of Thailand  are ever memorable. The training given by the teachers and the hospitality of our friends in Thailand  are the most valuable gifts that ever had in our life and we will remain in our memory for ever.

Supervised and built by Ramikinkar Baij, Nandalal Bose and additionally worked on by Prabhas Sen, Sukhomoy Mitra among other students along with students in 1938, may be considered an experiment firmly placed within the experimental ethos of those teaching at Kala Bhavan at the time. The Black House was made from mud, painted black and its walls covered with a variety of motifs, local and international, in low relief.

Kala Bhavan, the parent institution was founded on the integration of art and craft. A year before the making of ther black house Shyamali, the mud house was built in the housing complex of Tagore . Nandalal and Ramkinker , especially Ramkinker had a hand in that . So in 1936 when Black house came up they already had some experience in making mud dwellings.

Under the aegis of Visva Bharti university I received the sanction to do wall painting in the historically Iconic, mud building ‘black house’ build by recreating the famous sculptures of India others of world renown. The work was carried out after removing completely the damaged wall painting.

The walls were constructed in Jaipur style using quick lime, marble dust, and jaggery mixture which was incorporated with (milk protein) casein tempera that makes use of cheese, quick lime and natural colours. This momentous art work is based on many cave paintings of Ajanta in Maharashtra.

This work was completed with the support and guidance of my teachers Sri Nandu dhulal Mukherji and Dhilip Mithra of the Mural Department Visva Bharati University, (kala bhavan). These paintings are done in such a way that they will not be damaged by exposure to Rain and Sun.

See what my friend Shubhashis had to say about this project.