Blending poetry and art to bring inherent contradictions of the world to the spotlight, Dr Avani Rao Gandra curated ‘The Rose and a Thorn,’ an exhibition showcasing brilliant artworks of 20 artists from the city. The exhibition will be open at Icon Art Gallery till December 14.
Art and poetry not only complement each other but also provide a canvas for the ironies of the world, accentuating subjective truths and realities within the illusions of life. Artist and curator Avani Rao Gandra highlights the poetic elements in art and defines visual elements in poetry when she brings works of 20 talented artists from the city under a single theme: ‘The Rose and a Thorn.’
“Art is an immersive silent poetry which reflects in the choice of lines, colours, shapes, forms, perspectives, textures, light and shade deployed by the artists and poetry is an art that speaks in words, rhythm and rhyme in an imagined space,” said Avani Rao Gandra. “The selected artists have used poetics more profoundly in the subject, content and treatment of elements in their artworks that range from contemporary issues, dreamscapes, and abstractions to mythological inspirations. I chose artists who have used poetical elements of signs, symbols, and rhythms in their lines, forms, and colours while constructing their picture planes,” she added.
Gandra talked about her artwork displayed at the exhibition– a 13 ft painting with a 10 ft installation titled ‘Breathe Easy,’ that aimed to address environmental issues of pollution in oceans and seas. “It reflects the pain and agony of water creatures and an appeal to leave the planet a better place for future generations,” she said.
She mentioned that all the artists show a specific identity unique to them. Lakshmi Reddy’s painting on a wooden window opens up a black and white door to a vibrant sunny day and resonates with her mother’s poem on the effects of changing seasons on man. “My painting tries to capture the fleeting time. When we talk about the time, it’s about the day and the night. When we look at the moon at night, we normally see only the shapes and silhouettes of flora and fauna.
That’s what I can see from my window or the balcony. When I walk out during the day, I see vibrant colours and bright sunshine. I have symbolised the brightness of the day by using radiant colours. The purple and white flowers are from my garden. The fragrance of the parijata (night-flowering jasmine flowers) strikes me so they are depicted here. My composition goes well with my mom’s poetry on Ugadi which talks about the change of time, and the change of season. During Ugadi, one can see the king of the fruits, mango, and oranges, so that’s the symbolism I used to brighten up the day,” Lakshmi Reddy explained.
While Reddy played with the binaries and circular rhythm of the contrasts of nature, artists like Jangaiah Polepogu and Maredu Ramu highlighted the effects of human action on nature. Discussing his painting titled, ‘Sens in Between,’ Polepogu explained, “Healthy food like green apples is often covered with wax, which also gets transmitted to a baby inside a mother’s womb through her food. In my work, I want to highlight the contradiction that becomes apparent through human action. Nature, in itself, is pure but human actions lead to corruption of its purity. In my painting, I have depicted an apple and a baby in a womb, both connected with the idea of fertility. It also tries to reflect the idea of energy passing from one object to another, through a connection between a fruit and a baby. The sensitive things around the apple, like a butterfly sitting on it or the baby, need to be protected from the harmful effects of human action.”
Maredu Ramu too added some fruits to his 30X30 painting, titled ‘Urban Fantasy.’ A large-sized monkey, amidst raining bananas and an apple dominates on the side. Shedding light on his work, Ramu said, “The intention was to show the changing urban landscape. The cityscape does not have space for culture and co-existence with animals. The contradiction becomes obvious with the monkeys, commonly found in temples or forests are seen dominating the urban space. There is some humour in it too, one can relate human obsession with mindless development with the way monkeys run after bananas. The apple also refers to the company, extending to links with capitalism.
Talking about landscapes, Agnes D’Cruz Rajesh depicted lonely terrains in her painting but with some hope twinkling here and there. She also complemented it with self-composed poetry. “Rough and rugged are the terrains/As true as coexisting life/ Layers narrate the history/Of eras gone by/Hues merging in harmony/An ominous masterpiece in sight/ Journeys mapped, trails drawn/A destination in mind/Lamps glow in the distance/ Heartbeats lingering, it’s a traveller’s delight/Etching stories, creating memories/Marking terrains of life!”
Her poetry lays bare the stories of lost landscapes and rigid inhabitable terrains but on a deeper look, one can find bright-coloured dots representing lights coming out of boxes like structures that look like houses. “Whenever I paint, there’s always a thought process going on at the back of my head. I start writing them down in my diary and somehow the thoughts come out in verse. Looking at the layers in this painting, one can see a mountainous region or a rugged terrain. Some can associate it with the journey to Kailash. The indomitable landscape also has something buried underneath, perhaps remnants and proofs of life. Stories of the civilisations that once dominated the landscape. There is life, there is hope. The thoughts and speculations all become part of the painting,” Agnes concluded.