It was a long-pending dream of Sujith Surendran, an artiste and a tutor, to organise a solo exhibition of his paintings. When he finally realised it, he took a decision that he wouldn’t go for any hypothetical theme or something that is not familiar for a common man who might come to see his exhibition. “I wanted my paintings to express the simple thoughts that we all have on a daily basis – be it regarding the traffic or about various incidents happening in our society. Our perceptions are our thoughts, which serve as a window to the outside world. Our personality is conveyed to other people through these thoughts of ours,” says Sujith, who stresses that those thoughts persuaded him to name his exhibition Window that comprises 17 paintings in acrylic medium.
The exhibition taking place at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery was inaugurated by T.A Satyapal on Wednesday. Each of the paintings exhibited has been given simple and relatable titles, which according to Sujith was a conscious effort aimed at bringing clarity about the topic the particular painting describes. Ask him why he has included topics like Metro train and Palarivattom flyover in his paintings, and Sujith says, “These are the topics that bother each one of us. They are every common man’s issues. And also, the ones that have infinite number of opinions as well. Like for example, Metro rail was a combined effort of some Good Samaritans who wanted to bring a positive change in society. It opens a window towards the positivity present around us. On the other hand, the painting that shows the present situation of the Palarivattom flyover opens up a window towards the negativity and corruption present in our society. It is basically how we would like to see things.”
The artist, who is an active member of a group called Teach Art that comprises art teachers of different educational institutions across Kerala, adds that it was solely the support that he received from his team mates that encouraged him to set last six months for the exhibition. Though it is his maiden exhibition, Sujith has been organising exhibitions of paintings made by his students for many years now.
The show that will go on till August 11 will be open from 11 am to 7 pm.
