Alamelu Annhamalai was always interested in arts and knew what she wanted to do in her life since childhood. She did her graduation in Visual Arts, and today, she is a successful independent artist in the city.
Though she has taken part in several group shows, Alamelu is now putting up her first solo show curated by her college mate and friend Anisha Palat. This exhibition-cum-sale explores different topics and one can find over 100 paintings of varied sizes, quality, and theme.
“I also take up corporate projects, office interior works, commissioned paintings, wall arts, book illustration and a lot more. I do a lot of paintings to have a stable income so that I can exhibit my works,” she began her conversation, adding, “This exhibition titled ‘Soldier of Hope’ is a trip down the nostalgic path and an awareness of the present and a hopeful future. I’ve explored topics such as nature, 3D paintings, and abstract paintings.”
Explaining her works, she says, “One can find paintings of a boy and according to me, the boy is a personification of hope. It also suggests people to look at life from the perspective of a child. As adults, we have a pre-conceived notion and judge others easily. Then, the series of paintings then move on to nature. I have included music and lyrics — thereby, it evokes a feeling when you look at it. The majority of the paintings are in acrylic colour while others are in ink and charcoal. From nature, the topic moves to paintings that signify the words, ‘Reinventing Yourself’. During this transition, you find out who you are as a person and discover yourself.”
Alamelu has collaborated with Anisha for 20 paintings as well. Sharing about this joint effort, Anisha quips, “I went to Africa and took photos of animals and their behaviour. Alamelu picked 20 photos of the lot and made it into a painting. I was always interested in art history and art critique. I pursued a course and learnt the business side of art and also about conducting and curating an exhibition. Alamelu and I have always discussed collaborating and we are glad that it happened with ‘Soldier of Hope’. The whole series is about discovering oneself and his/ her journey from being a child to an adult.”
Picking one of her favourite works, Alamelu reveals, “I was reading a book called The Art of Remaking Men and found it extremely interesting. The idea is to paint on the pages of the books. These days, people are not reading books and the main motto is to have people look at the page! So, I took each page and painted a relevant image on it and framed it. You can also read the wordings and relate with the painting. It is my interpretation of the story on that particular page. This series is a combination of art and literature.”
(The exhibition is being held till October 31 from 12 pm to 8 pm at Lalit Kala Academy, Greams Road)
