Kerala - Kochi
On helplessness of life
Walking in a minefield is a precarious affair. You never know whether the next moment, the next step, will bring life or death. Danger lurks everywhere. Nobody can help you. You are helpless.
It is this helplessness that T.R. Upendranath makes the viewers experience while moving around his gallery installation, Those Who Remain, put up at the Kashi Art Gallery in Mattancherry. The gallery floor is strewn with mine-like objects, flaunting sharp, sinister-looking spikes.
The entire wall space is transformed into a huge paper collage, spreading across the four walls and rising up towards the high ceiling. The two wooden pillars in the hall are also transformed into installations covered with paper out of which strange beings emerge or peep out.
Upendranath, a Kochi-based artist, for whom paper collage has become the chosen medium, worked for almost 45 days in the gallery space of Kashi.
"I have tried to bring out what is within," he says. "The helplessness of people when faced with either war or terrorism. In fact, both war and terrorism have the same impact on the lives of people. They are helpless."
"But," he is quick to add, "more than a subject, I have tried to bring out a mood; a reflection of thoughts and feelings in my own mind."
He points out that this may not be a "beautiful" work in the conventional sense. The images are stark. The terracotta and metal "mines" scattered all around the 1,000 sq ft gallery floor are downright menacing. A wrong step, and you are likely to end up pierced by the sharp metal spike! His colours too are subdued. `Military camouflage colours, reminding of death.'
He said the insensitivity prevailing in society had intrigued him while conceiving the work. "Suppose you are watching TV news, often the view jumps from the scenes of violence, death or misery from many countries across the world to a sensuous ad of ice-cream or some cosmetic product."
The images of the city that appears in the work are from some of his recent sketches, says Upendranath. "The images developed in a continuous flow once I started working."
He said that he never took any measurements for designing the work.
He used 75 kg of recycled paper, 15 kg of gum, 15 metres of chicken mesh, 15 metres of jute, cotton, wood, terracotta, tin sheet, flour and plastic emulsion for the entire work.
Though he works in general with paper collage, Upendranath had earlier created large murals with paper, like the 50-metre work he did at a wall on the Fort Kochi beach as part of the Everybody's Space' project of Kashi. Another such installation was done at the Kashi Art Café's main hall in 2001.
The display opened on Monday and will be on view till June 15.
Renu Ramanath
(The Hindu - May 16, 2006)
On helplessness of life
Walking in a minefield is a precarious affair. You never know whether the next moment, the next step, will bring life or death. Danger lurks everywhere. Nobody can help you. You are helpless.
It is this helplessness that T.R. Upendranath makes the viewers experience while moving around his gallery installation, Those Who Remain, put up at the Kashi Art Gallery in Mattancherry. The gallery floor is strewn with mine-like objects, flaunting sharp, sinister-looking spikes.
The entire wall space is transformed into a huge paper collage, spreading across the four walls and rising up towards the high ceiling. The two wooden pillars in the hall are also transformed into installations covered with paper out of which strange beings emerge or peep out.
Upendranath, a Kochi-based artist, for whom paper collage has become the chosen medium, worked for almost 45 days in the gallery space of Kashi.
"I have tried to bring out what is within," he says. "The helplessness of people when faced with either war or terrorism. In fact, both war and terrorism have the same impact on the lives of people. They are helpless."
"But," he is quick to add, "more than a subject, I have tried to bring out a mood; a reflection of thoughts and feelings in my own mind."
He points out that this may not be a "beautiful" work in the conventional sense. The images are stark. The terracotta and metal "mines" scattered all around the 1,000 sq ft gallery floor are downright menacing. A wrong step, and you are likely to end up pierced by the sharp metal spike! His colours too are subdued. `Military camouflage colours, reminding of death.'
He said the insensitivity prevailing in society had intrigued him while conceiving the work. "Suppose you are watching TV news, often the view jumps from the scenes of violence, death or misery from many countries across the world to a sensuous ad of ice-cream or some cosmetic product."
The images of the city that appears in the work are from some of his recent sketches, says Upendranath. "The images developed in a continuous flow once I started working."
He said that he never took any measurements for designing the work.
He used 75 kg of recycled paper, 15 kg of gum, 15 metres of chicken mesh, 15 metres of jute, cotton, wood, terracotta, tin sheet, flour and plastic emulsion for the entire work.
Though he works in general with paper collage, Upendranath had earlier created large murals with paper, like the 50-metre work he did at a wall on the Fort Kochi beach as part of the Everybody's Space' project of Kashi. Another such installation was done at the Kashi Art Café's main hall in 2001.
The display opened on Monday and will be on view till June 15.
Renu Ramanath
(The Hindu - May 16, 2006)
posted by renuramanath at 11:55 PM
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