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Chip off the old block
SUNANDA KHANNA
YOU'D THINK a ten year old was far too young to be chasing issues like `say no to tobacco' or `give peace a chance'. Precocious yet shy, Sruthy Saseendran, a fifth standard student of Mahatma Gandhi Public School, Ambadimalla Chotanikara, pleads her case in two very personal narrations. Her pictures are stripped of all niceties as she depicts the horrors of smoking; dark colours embody skulls strewn around emaciated bodies. The painting won her the first prize in a contest held in Ernakulam to mark the anti-liquor day. Elsewhere, a large dove perched atop the globe is her representation of peace. Even as the themes are sometimes stale that have admittedly lost their flavour, to her credit Sruthy has a strong sense of perspective. She uses it to her benefit as she partitions her canvas; essaying to bring balance to a composition that has all ingredients of turning unruly. Not very big in size, `My Kerala' is a painting showcasing five different festivals that symbolise God's Own Country. Taking place in the background is Thrissurpooram, the elephant festival that is held in Thrissur; a bunch of girls get ready to make a pookallum in the foreground as they amicably share this space with a Kathakali dancer; elsewhere a boat race is underway.
Besides, Sruthy's forte is her ability to pick colours. Her paintings regale. She uses bright, unmixed colours to bring buoyancy to her canvases. Even as she has started taking formal training in art since the last one year, life hasn't been tough for this young painter. Her father, an artist himself has been guiding her ever since she could hold a brush in her hand.
The art works were on exhibit at the Palace Girls High School, Thripunithura. Also on display are the works of a father and daughter team. Gangadharan started making reproductions of Ravi Varma's paintings once he retired from the Cochin Port Trust, as a wharf superintendent. His wife is indulgent. "We never realized it. He's a born painter". Nisha Gangadharan pads her penchant for ancient themes with a few portraits (Indira Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore) thrown in.
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