An extraordinary artist

Eminent and renowned artist K.G. Subramanyan passed away in 2016 at the age of 92. A huge body of work left behind by him is a form of solace to the art lovers and connoisseurs. The ongoing show at Kalakriti art gallery, Hyderabad titled, Women seen and remembered, pays tribute to the artist’s extraordinary genius and brings forth the long series of his drawings dedicated to women and rendered during a widespread span of six to seven decades. Based on an eclectic amalgamation, the present show allows the viewers to experience the distinctly varied stances within a certain thematic or conceptual periphery.

K.G. Subramanyan’s artistic oeuvre subsumes myriad forms and thought processes which fluently and seamlessly got transformed to lively and fascinating art works. A versatile genius, he could fluently shift from one medium to another with equal finesse. Some of his works are in the form of children’s books, murals, pottery, terracotta, weaving, toys, glass painting, the list is endless. Throughout his body of work a strong, earthy, traditional-Indian ethos gets exemplified.

Amongst the varied concepts and themes that got explored in his works ‘women’ often got ingrained as prominent aspect and protagonist in his visual diction. The present show which brings forth 180 works which are completely women centric has been organised by Kalakriti art gallery in collaboration with the Seagull foundation of art, Kolkata. Megha Malhotra from the foundation shares a few thoughts about the collated series, “We are extremely delighted to get our collection to Hyderabad, as K.G. Subramanyan is one of the finest and the most renowned artists from our country. The series of works on display give an opportunity to the viewer to unveil the subtle transitions that took place in the legendary artist’s creative trajectory. A few of the works are from the model studies akin to the kind of realistic drawings and paintings done while studying in art school wherein the artist tries to recreate the physical attributes as truthfully as possible.”

K.G. Subramanyan was a well versed draughtsman, thus ‘line’ plays a prominent role in all the works that are on display. His mastery gets celebrated in the manner in which he delineates the figures and other elements in a simplified and abridged stance. Frequent assimilation of satire and pun strengthens his visual allegory and grants it a crisp essence. The distortion of the figures enhances the sensuousness of the dialogue and infuses a rawness that throbs with life. While retaining the Indian essence he could assimilate into his visual diction the strengths of personal connotation as well as contemporary elements, this aspect speaks volumes about his extraordinary expressionistic prowess.