They are all machine parts, exquisitely arranged with appropriate contrasting colours. Behind these intriguing, powerful images is life – human beings unseen but present. In one of the paintings is a huge metal part at the centre and illuminated bright patches. Is machine more important than man?
T.K. Muralidharan’s exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery attracted a lot of attention.
The artist’s perceptions: “Whatever left out of my long corridor of staggering thoughts are a few broken parts of a giant machine and its monstrous bulk. All around are blood oozing, flesh pieces and broken parts of bones. Scenes are fringed with grease and tears.
“This is corridor of my working space. I eat, sleep, dream and mate, listening to the wild, metal music of unending trains. This familiar mood has made their black layers in my eyes and has masked the fine colours of my canvas. I have always failed to highlight the views of leaves, flowers, butterflies and perhaps with a microscope. I think an artist can exist only quarrelling with the existing styles of time. It is easy to get entrapped in the current trends of art which moves with the triple fancies of fashion and the wild pull of the market.