G R Iranna, Manjunath Kamath, Rajan Krishnan and Vivek Vilasini

This show explores the oeuvre of four artists, who have created a visual translation of their thoughts and reflections through various methods of portrayal and a response to issues of social, political or personal concern, outlook and self-reflection. Comprising of twelve individually selected paintings, installations and photographs, the collection portrays the unconventional, experimental and interdisciplinary working styles of these artists.

Kamath’s consistent concern has been to free the visual story from its verbal equivalents. His colour intensive works are an eclectic mix of fantasy and reality wherein curious images take birth and read like a story. These linear narratives command attention with wit, playfulness and beauty. The fragments that make up his artworks weave and re-weave interpretations.

Iranna`s paintings depict pain as an abstract force that is translated visually in bruised textures and razor sharp cutting edges. The subject matter holds relevance in the context of today’s political scenario. His figure has become more representative of contemporary human experiences and concerns. He treats his work as a documentation of historical reality and looks for clues of social changes through it.

Vilasini is known for working with the social structures prevalent in contemporary Indian society. In his work he examines our existing social structures, adapting various expressions of cultural identity prevalent in society today to raise questions about the continually changing global scenario that every individual struggles to keep pace with. Through the images of traditional Kathakali, Vilasini postulates a subversive stance by making his photographed subjects perform contemporary dilemmas and political tensions. He brings in the politics of the locale with all its polyphonic variations.

Krishnan`s art is very sensitive to his immediate natural environment. The fields and villages of the Kerala of his youth play the role of `principal protagonist` in most of his works, expressing his deepest aesthetic proclivities. His early works are slightly sentimental in their depiction of childhood memories of home, but this phase seems to have given way to a more assertive cynicism that unflinchingly records the sudden and sweeping changes wrought on the landscapes he has known and loved.