Sarala’s Art Centre in Chennai celebrates three Madras School Masters with divergent visual languages

Think of it like three books from the same shelf. Same institution, same teachers, same air —and then three completely different stories. That’s the simplest way to understand Trilogy, the new exhibition at Artworld—Sarala’s Art Centre that brings together senior artists C Douglas, K Muralidharan, and Rm Palaniappan under one roof.

From shared roots to three stories: Trilogy exhibition unites Douglas, Muralidharan, and Palaniappan

The occasion is significant. Sarala’s Art Centre turns 60 this year, and curator Bishwajit Banerjee has chosen to mark it not with a retrospective but with a conversation—between three artists who all came out of the Madras School and then, over decades of work, developed visual languages of their own.

“These three artists, when you talk about the Madras School of Art, are the last prolific and established artists of that school. They lived in the surroundings of the Madras Art College with all the master professors and teachers, and they have worked for many years and moved ahead from the tenets of the Madras school—forging new paths and discovering and creating their own visual language,” says Bishwajit.

The idea of this exhibition he says was conceived during one of his infrequent visits to Chennai from Kodaikanal. “As we approached our 60th year, I found myself reflecting on artists who have not only witnessed the journey of the Madras School but have, in their own ways, shaped and extended it. Douglas, Muralidharan, and Palaniappan came to mind almost instinctively.”

This idea culminates at Trilogy that sees about 50 artworks of the trio.

Muralidharan’s canvases are the most immediately alive—mythological figures spread across vivid, almost irreverent colour. His works move between memory and instinct, where playful forms and imagery carry the cultural reference.

Mythology in painting usually tends toward the hushed and historical, but Muralidharan has other ideas. “Normally when you talk about mythology, you talk about muted colours. But he has played around with that and made them pop and more fun using colours,” Bishwajit notes.

Meanwhile, Douglas has gone somewhere quieter this time. His earlier works were richly layered, maximal in texture and detail. This series, however, is more spare and symbolic. Douglas’s work features dense, layered works where figures, symbols and structures overlap and dissolve, creating surfaces that feel psychologically charged and inward. “His paintings were normally what I call maximal and minimal art, but this series has been a lot more quiet, minimalistic, surreal and very symbolic. Just simple drawing,” says Bishwajit. What comes through most strongly, he says, is the line—that foundational quality of the South Indian school, now stripped of everything that used to surround it and allowed to speak on its own.

The third set of series belongs to Palaniappan, whose practice is grounded in structure and rhythm. He approaches the canvas with the rigour of a mathematician. Grids, geometry, measured spatial relationships — his work is about balance and rhythm arrived at through precision, not instinct. It might sound austere but reads as meditative, the kind of work that may ask you to slow down and check the art again.

An interesting factor about this exhibition is that instead of a single theme, one can witness the three distinctive practices that continue to evolve, while remaining anchored within a shared history. The intent is not to unify but rather display the artworks side by side, Bishwajit says.

The name of the exhibition came from Bishwajit sitting with the concept of a sequel. “Trilogy is a sequel of three books,” he explains. “If I consider that these three people are the same characters studying in the same background of the Madras Art College, and if you see the life, it’s like three different stories appearing. That’s why I called it trilogy. It’s a sequel of three artists moving out of the same institution and speaking totally different.”

“The story is different and the language is totally different” he adds.

Open to all. On till April 20. 6 pm to 8.30 pm.At Sarala’s Art Centre, Teynampet.

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