G R Iranna's show at Kashi Art Gallery, Fort Kochi

Edgar Pinto's Kashi Art Gallery opened its new show, works by G R.Iranna this evening.Had a nice time. Both the samosas and the works get high marks. Quaint Kashi's roughly 'inverted L' shaped space had an all new look with Iranna's paintings and installations, a dozen in all. Iranna: Hm..what nationality? Kannadiga and cute, with all 22 years of his life in Delhi. Capital exposure must have helped in getting all those kudos listed in his simple but elegant brochure. The names of most prominent galleries find place in the list. There is one huge horizontal work, young monks in ochre robes,huddled together, with sparks of enlightenment or wonderment here and there, as I see it. The monks keep occupying space in another work, but are at different levels in a maze of wooden construction. The monks continue to make their presence, sitting, again huddled together and in another, a lone monk lies on a drawing of a bench! The trees again, with roots exposed, are in the same ochre colour, another extension of spirituality. Trees that appear from the top and bottom confuse the viewer, maybe yet another extension of the confusion in a human mind, or a monks?! It's disturbing and when you keep looking at these, you feel as if you are getting into the skin of those characters. The installations are what you can talk about. The mediyadi of monks down south hang one above the other, linked by long electrical wires, plenty of them, again red, ochre if you wish. Another pair lies closer to each other, but nails bind them, a symbolic reminder of the spartan life of a monk and also the hurt that gos along with it. The bhiksha vessdel of the monk, strung together to make a long centepede-like vessel has on one side the root system of a bush-like tree and on the other side a fresh green plant. Hope it stays that way throughout the show. The icing is the pendulum plant, a charcoal painted dead plant that hangs (thereby hangs a tale?) upside down by the white wall and when switched on, swings like a pendumum, the charcoal making a design on the wall. This sure gets credit in the ideas department. Tanya Abraham curated this very different show. I really enjoyed it. Lots of friends, aquaintances, artists and people you knew but really didm't know were there. Happy evening..By the way, I loved writing this.... Prema Manmadhan

G R Iranna's show at Kashi Art Gallery, Fort Kochi

Edgar Pinto's Kashi Art Gallery opened its new show, works by G R.Iranna this evening.Had a nice time. Both the samosas and the works get high marks. Quaint Kashi's roughly 'inverted L' shaped space had an all new look with Iranna's paintings and installations, a dozen in all. Iranna: Hm..what nationality? Kannadiga and cute, with all 22 years of his life in Delhi. Capital exposure must have helped in getting all those kudos listed in his simple but elegant brochure. The names of most prominent galleries find place in the list. There is one huge horizontal work, young monks in ochre robes,huddled together, with sparks of enlightenment or wonderment here and there, as I see it. The monks keep occupying space in another work, but are at different levels in a maze of wooden construction. The monks continue to make their presence, sitting, again huddled together and in another, a lone monk lies on a drawing of a bench! The trees again, with roots exposed, are in the same ochre colour, another extension of spirituality. Trees that appear from the top and bottom confuse the viewer, maybe yet another extension of the confusion in a human mind, or a monks?! It's disturbing and when you keep looking at these, you feel as if you are getting into the skin of those characters. The installations are what you can talk about. The mediyadi of monks down south hang one above the other, linked by long electrical wires, plenty of them, again red, ochre if you wish. Another pair lies closer to each other, but nails bind them, a symbolic reminder of the spartan life of a monk and also the hurt that gos along with it. The bhiksha vessdel of the monk, strung together to make a long centepede-like vessel has on one side the root system of a bush-like tree and on the other side a fresh green plant. Hope it stays that way throughout the show. The icing is the pendulum plant, a charcoal painted dead plant that hangs (thereby hangs a tale?) upside down by the white wall and when switched on, swings like a pendumum, the charcoal making a design on the wall. This sure gets credit in the ideas department. Tanya Abraham curated this very different show. I really enjoyed it. Lots of friends, aquaintances, artists and people you knew but really didm't know were there. Happy evening..By the way, I loved writing this.... Prema Manmadhan

K J Yesudas caricature show

It was a nice gathering, all who just wanted to be part of the shared happiness. It's always like that at The Orthic Creative Centre that Kaladharan lovingly keeps afloat. There were two Yesudases, one, the singing sensation and the other, the cartoonist veteran. There was more for the lucky crowd. Toms, whose Boban and Molly are like siblings to two or three generations. The coffee table book that was brought out with caricatures of Yesudas, the singer was launched after the short and sweet speeches. This was the occasion for which the packed hall waited. The Cartoonists Academy and Kaladharan must be thanked for bringing them together and for making it all so homely, with chai and smiles. Yesudasan (cartoonist)came out with his humour armoury (he calls himself, the Yesudas who does not sing!)and spoke of the time the rumour was floated that both Yesudases had died. He spiced it with the expressions he saw etc. He chose to call Yesudas, the singer Dasettan though he was much older, he said, but the reason was not clear. Yesudas, on the other hand, spoke of the time he drew a cartoon, once,in anger, of head load workers carrying the body of a man who had four sons. They refused to let the sons carry the body, for the head load workers thought it was their job! Of course he sang four lines of the religious harmony song. And when he left, he told me and Pradeep again about the cartoon he had drawn, of the headload workers..etc..It was the first time I met him. Pradeep just introduced me but I of course felt that I had known him all along! Thanks, Kaladharan, for making this possible. One can't even say his is a no-profit-no-loss job of love, because I think it's mostly a loss venture, but then, Kaladharan doesn't care. Not for him the luxuries and big fat cars that 'artists' who are better businessmen manage to corner. Kaladharan has done more for art in Kerala than any one else in the modern era,I believe. Of the caricatures displayed, those that are in the book, they have myriad expressions, moods and some have deiva ganam looks while others have asura ganam visages! Manmadhan and me enjoyed the outing.