This ongoing exhibition in Chennai reflects on nature’s echoes

Dreams often arrive disguised; part memory, part imagination. It is this delicate play between the real and the surreal that S Nataraj brings to the fore in his ongoing exhibition In Fields of Return – Tales from the Midnight Summer. The works displayed feel like waking dreams—familiar, yet altered just enough to make us pause and look again.

Here's what to expect from this Chennai exhibition

Nataraj’s practice spans nearly two decades, beginning after his Masters at Chitrakala Parishad, Bengaluru, in 2006. From crowds and communities in his early works to solitary figures in communion with nature, his art has shifted inwards. “Initially, I used to do a lot around society—people, age groups, communities. Now, I am doing mostly on myself with nature,” he says.

At In Fields of Return–Tales from the Midnight Summer, the exhibition brings together watercolours and oil on canvas, with subjects that range from dreamlike animals to symbols of human vulnerability. Nataraj loves the intimacy of watercolour—“Most of my works are watercolours, but I also work with oil and canvas. I enjoy the play of scale it allows,” he adds.

Within this imaginative landscape, Nataraj positions his art as fragments of narrative, brief glimpses into a theatre of the everyday. Figures reappear across his compositions like recurring actors, shifting roles each time.

Some works carry memories of darker times, like his painting of a roaring lion scattering people. “That was during the pandemic. The lion represents something dangerous. People didn’t know where to go. The sea was full of waves. It’s a kind of disturbance,” he explains. Others tilt towards hope and aspiration, like the winged elephant. “It’s very dreamy. It represents a big goal. Like bees on a flower, the elephant is like a bee—reaching for something larger.”

Each work of his opens a zone of encounter, inviting viewers to look past appearances and recognise how small signs and symbols accumulate into larger meanings.

Humour, empathy, and allegory run through his art, but always grounded in everyday concerns. “We don’t have time to look at the sky. We are losing our originality,” he reflects. That is why his works place humans, animals, and birds in the same imaginative field—reminding us of connections we tend to forget.

Open to all. On till October 7. Tuesday – Saturday, 3 pm – 6.30 pm. At Apparao Galleries, Nungambakkam.

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