Latest news with #DurbarHallArtGallery
New Indian Express
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Remembering Yusuf Arakkal
Long before Yusuf Arakkal's canvases found their place in galleries across the globe, his life began with loss, escape, and an unrelenting hunger to express. Orphaned at the age of seven and sent away to a boarding school, he 'fled' from Kozhikode to Bengaluru as a teenager, not in search of fame — but emancipation. On a quiet weekday afternoon, the Durbar Hall Art Gallery in Kochi breathes with the soul of this man who saw the world not as it appeared, but as it truly felt. Yusuf, the late master of brooding canvases and silent cries, returns to Kochi — not in person, but through an overwhelming retrospective that feels more like a homecoming than an exhibition. That journey — marked by struggle, survival, and the solitude of being unseen — etched itself permanently into his art. Yusuf's figures were rarely whole. Often bald, genderless, hunched or expressionless, they stood like echoes of those society forgets. 'He always said that figure was himself,' says Sara Arakkal, his wife, lifelong collaborator and curator of his legacy. 'He was not bald. He was not a woman. But he saw himself in all the disregarded.' Over the next five decades, Yusuf would become one of India's most compelling modern artists, not only for his technical brilliance but for his insistence on portraying the invisible. His subjects were migrants, daily-wage workers, refugees, crying spoke not in slogans but in sighs. 'He gave dignity to those who have none,' Sara says. 'He painted their silences.' Though his artistic core was forged in solitude, his career blossomed with recognition. After receiving his diploma in painting from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath in 1973, Yusuf's work would go on to be exhibited in New York, Paris, London, and Singapore. Among his many accolades are the National Award (1983), the Karnataka Lalit Kala Akademi Award, and the Lorenzo de Medici Gold Medal at the Florence Biennale. Yet to Sara, his greatest masterpiece wasn't a particular painting, but the spirit behind them. 'His life was art. His breath was art,' she says. 'He never did it for success. Even when we had nothing, he would still paint.' He worked as a technician in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), but later quit the job to pursuit the creative calling. He was a sculptor, poet, and a thinker — a man who carried within him both machinery and mysticism. 'There was something divine in him,' Sara reflects.
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
An exhibition in Kochi chronicles three generations of a family's journey in art
When the artworks of three generations of a family come together, it is more than a showcase of artistic talent. It is a heart-warming event tinged with emotion, memories and love. Sethubandhanam, an exhibition at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery, chronicles a family's journey in art. A tribute to the late artist, writer and illustrator K Balasubramanian, by his children Shalini B Menon and Kailas Menon, the exhibition, says Shalini, is a way to stay connected to their father's legacy. 'It is not just an exhibition for us, it holds a deeper significance. While honouring our father's body of work, we are also expressing our connection to him through art, a gift he gave us,' adds Shalini. Featuring the works of Balasubramanian, Shalini, Kailas and their children Vishnu sharan, Arpana K Menon and Agney K Menon, the show offers a range of artistic expression, across time, circumstances and style. 'The show was conceived before his (Balasubramanian's) death in 2020. He wanted to organise an exhibition that would celebrate a family united by its love for creative expression,' says Kailas. It took months of effort to curate the show. Shalini along with Kailas carefully sorted their father's works, some of which he himself had kept aside for the show. A selection of his nuanced illustrations for Chandrika and Mathrubhumi from the late 1960s and early 1970s occupy a large part of the show. Though he worked in the technical department at Mathrubhoomi (1965-1968), Balasubramanian was a regular contributor to the art and photography sections. He later moved to CIFNET, where he worked as an artist photographer. Though he was not in mainstream art, Balasubramanian continued to fuel his fire, painting, drawing and writing plays. He has written five plays, one of which was published, Cholliyattom, which won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. The translated version of the book was launched at the exhibition. One of his paintings, a large portrait of an elderly couple, occupies pride of place at the exhibition. The portrait belongs to Commander S Gopalakrishnan, who commissioned it to the artist. 'This is a portrait of my parents. I gave him a black and white photograph of theirs for reference. I remember him asking me what colour my mother loved. And I said green. The portrait has my mother draped in an emerald green sari,' says Gopalakrishnan, who offered the painting to be The showcase also includes posters designed by him, newspaper reports and a hand-written note he left for his wife Rema, just a day before he passed. Shalini and Kailas picked up their early lessons in art from their father. 'Being surrounded by art, we were naturally inclined to it,' says Shalini, who worked as an audit manager, before taking up art full time. A protege of artist Suresh TR, founder of Prussian Blue Art Hub, she has displayed her watercolour series on the quaint countrysides of Wadakkancherry, a village she was familiar with through her father's stories. She revisited the place before painting the series, which evoke a sense of nostalgia — the charm of a mansion in a village, a temple festival, a lonely alleyway. Some of her acrylics are also on show. Kailas, who did his fashion designing at NIFT Chennai, worked in Dubai for over 17 years, has been part of a few art exhibitions there. His striking series of drawings in charcoal and brush and ink, titled Sindoor, depicting women with and without the bright vermilion spot on their foreheads. Kailas explores the concept of the veil and beauty hidden, in another colourful triptych. Two striking works in charcoal, one of a palace complex in Jodhpur and one which shows the other side of Jodhpur, is a detailed depiction of the cityscape. He uses a bold palette, mixing styles and drawing from his experience as a designer, while also staying connected to his roots. Shalini's son Vishnu Sharan, who is pursuing his MBA, expresses his love for sport in two paintings, while Kailas's children Arpana (who has just completed her Plus Two) and Agney's (who is in Class X) works include watercolours of landscapes and sport stars, reflecting their interests. The show is on till May 26 at Gallery A, B and C of Durbar Hall Art Centre till May 26.
New Indian Express
30-04-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
This Kerala artist's mangrove series is a meditation on ecology, emotions
A mangrove root — a tangled heap sculpted out of paper — sits idly in the centre of the Durbar Hall Art Gallery, where artist Bindhi Rajagopal's exhibition, The Grounded Guardians, is underway. An uncanny object yet not unfamiliar, one may wonder. But before they could contemplate it any further, their eyes are pulled elsewhere. To the walls, where several artworks are neatly displayed, each, in ways of their own, articulate the wonders and wanes of exactly what they had just overlooked — mangroves. Just like Bindhi had, all those years ago. This exhibition, whose tagline reads, A Meditation on Mangrove Roots, is then a callback, a recollection for Bindhi, for whom these shrubs that littered the brackish waters in Kochi, her hometown, were once a familiar sight. These swirling, curling roots were always there, according to her, until they were not. It was a truth that she had barely paid attention to. Not for many years. Not until 2018, when, while teaching at an architectural school, Bindhi stumbled upon a lecture that talked about, among other things, mangroves, and how they were instrumental in the collective fight against climate change. 'It was right after the deluge of 2018, and a few foreign scientists had visited the college to take a class on climate change. No doubt, the lecture was a nudge to return once again to the roots,' Bindhi tells TNIE. 'I remember clearly, back then, buildings were sparse, and trees and wetlands were more common in Kochi. Mangrove roots were always above ground, visible and hypnotic due to the interconnected patterns they create,' she says. 'It is an ecosystem, home to birds, insects, and animals. The mangrove protects everything in its reach, keeps the land together. Like mothers. That's the first image that rushed to my mind during the lecture,' Bindhi adds. This image steered her in the years to come, in her artistic endeavours. Every time she picked up a brush, the memory yearned to seep into the canvas, bleed into the colours. 'It's like a poem or a story that refuses to leave you behind. You just have to write it. For me, mangroves are something that I just have to paint. There's no other option.' Every work that Bindhi has done since has some element of mangrove in it, if not explicitly, then certainly, abstractly. The Grounded Guardians, the artist's first solo exhibition since 2018, is a compilation of all these works and has been eight years in the making. 'It's been a long time, I know. There were the floods, then Covid. Now, after a long break, I have enough paintings to hold a solo exhibition,' Bindhi smiles. The artist had lost several of her works during the deluge. Even more was given away to aid fundraising and help those who have lost their home in the floods. Even then, 25 works — 24 from the current series and one from her previous exhibition at Florence Biennale — adorn the walls of Durbar Hall Art Gallery, inviting the public to see that which they had inadvertently overlooked, to introspect, and even imagine. As for the mangrove sculpture, Bindhi says, 'It's for those who don't yet know what a mangrove looks like.' For, indeed, the paintings can never quite tell the complete picture, can it? Only fragments. Only what's needed. They tease an idea, conjure an emotion, draw the beholder into the complex puzzle that his web of mangrove roots invariably is. Bindhi's affinity is not limited to just mangroves, of course. Her own cats and a plethora of animals, too, feature in her works. The inspiration: the recent human-wild animal conflict on Kerala's forest fringes. 'It's man-made, isn't it?' she asks. 'We took away their home and reduced the forest where they grazed, hunted and scavenged. They are just walking the same path as always, where we have encroached and constructed buildings,' Bindhi elaborates. 'This place is for all of us — the mangroves, the animals, and also us. We don't have ownership of the Earth. That's what I intend to convey, the message of my works,' Bindhi signs off.
The Hindu
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Artist Bindhi Rajagopal's works showcase the ecological importance of mangroves
Shades of mossy green, dominate artist Bindhi Rajagopal's latest show, The Grounded Guardians: A Meditation on Mangrove Roots, on at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery. The latest show is an ode to mangroves which form a green wall around the city where it meets the backwaters. Mangroves hold the earth, they prevent natural calamities and they nurture life like a mother would, hence, Bindhi says, she has used them as a recurring motif in the works. 'This is my first solo show in a long time. First came the 2018 floods, then COVID-19… one thing after the other kept happening. The works on show are those that I worked on over this period. These are not all, just some,' she adds, laughing. Intertwining mangrove roots border some of the works, footprints forming the background for a couple of her latest works. The past impacts the future as much as the present. Bindhi seems to suggest that we have to be careful about what we leave behind for future generations. 'I attended a workshop by a scientist on the role mangroves play in preserving ecology, and that got me curious about them. The idea embedded itself in my mind,' Bindhi explains why she chose mangroves. Some of the works have a woman with cats, while others have fish and algae-like life forms, all of which seem to draw sustenance from each other. The paintings reveal symbiotic relationship with nature and all its creatures, mankind included. 'I am trying to say through my works how our actions impact all creation, and how we should be responsible.' Bindhi, an alumnus of RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, has been practising her craft for close to three decades. She held her first show in 1992 followed by one in 1998. Over the years she has been part of solo and group shows in Kerala and abroad and has also curated art shows. She has been an art teacher in a school and later, an assistant professor of visual arts in a college. She uses visual metaphors and symbolism to get her point across. For instance, one of her paintings done during COVID-19 is actually three - a triptych, which shows three women on three different canvases. All three wear masks, and despite being together they cannot inhabit the same space. The isolation is unmissable. 'Isn't that how we felt during the pandemic? My daughters felt it intensely, not being able to step out or meet friends. That was all of us. The painting is the three of us or it could be anybody!' The artist is preoccupied with the past, present and future, and how one impacts the other. The works on show bear testimony to it. The show on at Durbar Hall Art Gallery concludes on April 30.
