The meaning of life

Artists at the ‘Unbounded’ exhibition at the Kerala Museum in Kochi focused on this theme in varying styles  

Photos: Sumesh K Shanmugham; The Joker; Work by Lekha Vyloppilly

By Shevlin Sebastian 

One morning, artist Sumesh K Shanmugham read the news of the arrest of a Mollywood actor, who was good at playing comic roles. Feeling inspired, he went to his studio and drew a joker. He has the clown’s make-up, including the red nose but the eyes are downcast, with downturned lips. The joker is using a straw to blow bubbles. Not surprisingly, the work is called ‘The Bubble Maker’. All around balloons are floating about. 

“Most jokers are sad by nature,” says Sumesh. “There is a sadness behind every joke. 

The balloons stand for meaninglessness and for hollow people, who have nothing to offer.” 

Sumesh employs an unusual style. While most artists put black on a white background, he is using white ink on a dark background, by using a Rotring pen. 

In another black-and-white work, a shirtless man wearing a white half-mundu, with hands upraised, is blowing a large bubble skywards. At one side there is a staircase going upwards. You can also see a horse, a large fish, an empty boat on a dark river, floating buildings and many bubbles. 

“This is the story of this man’s inner life,” says Sumesh. “I am trying to show the rough side of contemporary life. The bubbles represent people who make a lot of noise, but are empty inside. The boat and the fish represents the darkness of life.” All fifteen works are eye-catching and attractive. “Yes, I am lucky, people like my works and many buy them,” says this full-time artist.   

Sumesh was displaying his works at the exhibition, ‘Unbounded -- transcending boundaries through the universal language of the visual arts’ at the Kochi Museum. 

Another participating artist is Lekha Vyloppilly. She has drawn a male/female figure. There is an eagle behind the left shoulder, while a snake is coiled around the neck. “The eagle represents life while the snake is death,” she says. “Death is part of life. But despite the presence of death, we must think positively.”

Water, from a small bowl, is poured over the head as an act of self-purification. “We become a new person and start a new life,” she says. “That’s why I drew wings behind the person. From the breast, a lotus is growing.” 

Most of her works, she says, are based on self-realisation, love and desire. “It is a blend of traditional stylisation with contemporary motives,” she says.  

As for artist Girish Kalleli, he has drawn faces of the people in his neighbourhood in Muvattupuzha. These included the anchor of a local TV channel, a labourer, a temple priest, a youth and the artist’s wife and daughter. During the time he worked on these images, he realised that everybody has a mask. “We wear them at home, in the workplace, in front of our spouses, relatives, parents and children,” says Girish. “Where is the real person is the question I ask myself.” 

Finally, there is TG Jyotilal, who has done a reddish image of a body on a spike in front of tombs and temples. He has focused on a time, during the 9th century when the Brahmins used to persecute the Jains in Kerala. 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)