Decoding ‘Behind The Clouds’ by Manjunath Kamath

Behind the Clouds, 2015

Behind the Clouds, 2015

Medium: oil and acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches. Image courtesy: Gallery Espace, New Delhi

Strongly influenced by folk and traditional art forms as well as literature, the imagery in Manjunath Kamath’s current body of work, that includes Behind the Clouds, reflects a decorative and narrative quality akin to Indian and Persian miniatures. This particular piece attempts to unveil the unseen and unsaid, without losing its playful and mysterious quality. The rendering of characters is very close to those seen in fables, in most instances these are composite figures seen in conversation with human figures in the pictorial space. The artist meticulously maintains quirkiness throughout the painting while imparting many layers of meaning.

About the artist
Manjunath Kamath is an observer who captures his locale in various forms, be it sculpture, painting, animation or videos. His work has been displayed at Gallery Espace, the French embassy and Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi, and is part of the collection at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Internationally, he has exhibited in New York, Cardiff, Bangkok and Seoul. A recipient of the Charles Wallace scholarship, he was an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff. He has shown his work in new media at a number of locations, including Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi.