“Art is joy. It helps me find my inner peace. I convey my understanding of the world through my works. Nothing can be compared to the excitement that a painting can provide,” says artist Santhosh Babu Kannan at Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery. His paintings are exhibited along with those of A Babu and N Jagadeesan as part of the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Birth Centenary Series 2017-18. “I travel and loves to take photographs. I use these as a reference for my paintings,” says Kannan who enjoys realism. And a lot of his paintings are drawn from memory rather than a reference photograph. Some of the works that draw my eyes are his watercolours The Old Man and A Red Lotus. “I used to swim in a pond filled with these flowers. This composition is from the angle that one sees it from the water,” he explains. Painting by Santhoshbabu Kannan | Photo Credit: S.SIVA SARAVANAN “I believe that each painting is a record of the life style of people at that time. This painting of a girl taking a selfie speaks of one such trend.” The bull stands out with bells around its neck and its horns wrapped in bright orange cloth. The background is intentionally dark and smudged, says Kannan, so that it makes the bull pop. For A Babu, art is a form to express his spirituality. “All my drawings are inspired by temples or Gods.” He has used a technique called old paper effect in his water colour paintings to create an illusion of an old photograph. An untitled water colour painting shows an old man with his nadaswaram mostly a study in brown. He also does Tanjore paintings. In one of them called Shivan Family, Babu has used bright and thick shades of poster colours. “It gives a good finish. It takes a month to finish a Tanjore art as one has to prepare the plywood, sketch, paint, create designs in gold and add the stones.” He has also displayed his works on wood done with acrylic paint with several paintings of Vinayaka and a piece of Warli art as well.“This is my first attempt with wood. I think art should not be confined to square and rectangle canvases.” Painting by N.Jagadeesan | Photo Credit: S.SIVA SARAVANAN N.Jagadeesan’s Acrylic on canvas called Fish Selling Lady.In the background of this painting are yellows and oranges that give an impression of sunset. In the forefront is the fisher-woman clad in white and red with her fishes. There are depictions of Kathakali, or Radha and Krishna, villages and temples. The creations of the three artists reflect the very different approach and technique each one has to his subject that ranges from ordinary humans to the gods. Info you can use A total of 63 paintings are exhibited Prices range from ?1000 to ?20000 The exhibition is on till June 17; 10.00 am to 6.30 pm @Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery, Avanashi Road Call 0422-2574110 for details

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