Material Memoir, a group exhibition curated by Isaiarasi Annamalai, brings together six artists whose work shares one defining quality: the material. The show features Kannan P, Mani Murugesan, Ramki Ravi, Ramesh N, Surya S, and Yogeshwaran V, each working with wood, metal, paper, or printmaking in ways that are distinctly their own.
“The material is the one that is creating the memory for an artwork. That is the basic concept I want to convey,” says Isaiarasi. The result is a show where the medium is the highlight, where upcycled wood, rusted iron, layered paper, and etching plates carry as much meaning as whatever subject they depict.
Kannan’s work is the most varied in this regard. He moves across wood, fine steel, and rusted iron, using repeated pieces and layers to build surfaces that are as much about physical presence as about image.
Mani Murugesan is the most senior of the six and the one who has stayed closest to a single tradition. He began as a printmaking artist and continues in that territory, working in a monochromatic palette of grey, white, and black, which Isaiarasi describes as “quiet and meditative. The more you look into it, the more you get into it.”
Ramki’s contribution is perhaps the most technically surprising, says Isaiarasi. He works with 14 to 15 layers of paper stacked together, then carves into them. “People often gets amused on how one can carve out of a bundle of paper and create such a 3D kind of work” Isaiarasi adds. He also makes acrylic works with fragments of paper—pieces of landscape that appear to float across the surface.
Surya takes a different approach to wood entirely. Rather than carving or cutting, he breaks it—deliberately, precisely, and considers the break itself the artwork.
Yogeshwaran sculpts animals from metal. He brings material into the world of sculpture, animals and movement, giving solid forms a sense of life and presence.
Ramesh, the youngest artist in the show, works in printmaking and etching. He has been a resident artist in Kerala, and his time there has shaped his subjects. The combination of wood and metal adds a quiet tension to the surface, suggesting how memory and place evolve. Through layered textures and flowing lines, his works capture quiet moments where land, water, and human presence meet.
What holds all six together is a shared instinct—that the material is not just a vehicle for the idea but the idea’s first articulation. “Though they use very distinctive styles in depicting them, the end product has always a personalised story that connects to the artwork and their life,” shares Isaiarasi.
On till October 31. 10 am to 6 pm (Monday-Saturday). At The Collectors Room by Artiform, Mylapore.
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