Explore The Pond Near The Field

Text by Huzan Tata

View the works of five Keralite artists in New Delhi

Click on any image to view in larger gallery

Kerala isn’t known as God’s own country for no good reason. Natural beauty, culture and art abound. An exhibition in New Delhi, Pond Near The Field, brings to viewers the works of five acclaimed artists who have called the state home. The show includes drawings, sculptures, paintings, collages and diaries of creators, whose works show a distinct connection to their hometown. As the press note for the show says, ‘it aims to reflect on the history of change and resistance in the academic pedagogy that were formulating among the youth of Kerala in the 1980s’.

Artist Profiles:

K P Krishnakumar was an Indian sculptor and artist, and also the leader of the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors Association. He was known for works that commented on political and aesthetic issues. Krishnakumar passed away in 1989.

K M Madhusudhanan started drawing at a young age, and is today a filmmaker and artist who has displayed his works at various biennales. His creations confront film history, colonialism, Marxism, Buddhism and contemporary war and politics. The artiste won a National Film Award in 2008 for his first feature film, Bioscope.

Surendran Nair is known for his surrealist oil paintings, and for the whimsical, long titles of his artworks. Investigating mythological works through his creations, he has displayed at several galleries across the world including Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Queensland Art Gallery, The National Gallery of Australia, and The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

C K Rajan is a contemporary artist from the Kerala Radical Group. His works today focus on surrealist sculptures. The artist studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University in Baroda and he currently lives and works in Hyderabad.

N N Rimzon works with metal, fibreglass and and stone to create symbolic sculptures. A postgraduate from the Royal College of London, Rimzon’s drawings and sculptures comment on ecological threats as well as communal strife. He lives and works in New Delhi.

Pond Near The Field: Five Artists from Kerala is on display at KNMA, New Delhi (Plot 3A, Sector 126, Noida) until March 30, 2016.