Art and Paintings by Indian Artist Biju from Kerala. Beautiful Paintings in realism

Really Illuminating lecture on Aesthetic Universals and the Neurology of Hindu Art by Dr Vilayanur S Ramachandran

2012-01-26T13:37:00.003+05:30

It is a pleasure to watch some accomplished Indians speaking authoritatively on complex topics like the connection between neurology and art. Dr Ramachandran, born in Tamil Nadu in 1951 is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr Ramachandran has generated many new ideas about the brain. He has been called "The Marco Polo of neuroscience" by Richard Dawkins and "the modern Paul Broca" by Eric Kandel. In 1997 Newsweek named him one of the "hundred most prominent people to watch" in the 21st century. In 2011 Time listed him as one of "the most influential people in the world" on the "Time 100" list.

Here is an interesting lecture by him on Aesthetic Universals and the Neurology of Hindu Art. Spend some time to watch this and it will not be a waste of time if you are an art enthusiast.

Avinash Manekar: :Pleasant Paintings in Simple Compositiions

2012-01-12T20:43:00.007+05:30

Avinash Manekar is an artist from Maharashtra. His paintings are notable for its use of bright colors and simple but elegant figures. He avoids extreme details in order to focus on depicting moods and emotions. To me some of his paintings are really inspiring.

Rajeshwar Nyalapalli; Inspiring Figurative Paintings

2012-01-10T23:31:00.006+05:30

Rajeshwar Nyalapalli is an artist from Andhra Pradesh. His figurative paintings in Acrylic and Watercolor are strikingly beautiful. It is evident from his style of figurative portrayal that he has drawn inspiration from some contemporary artists but he has incorporated some highly original aspects to it. It is a pleasure to draw inspiration from him.

Visit one of his online galleries here

Amrita Sher-Gil; Inspiring Artist for More than One Reason

2012-01-10T00:38:00.019+05:30

Amrita Sher-Gil(1913-1941)was just 28 years when she died. She is often compared to Frida Kahlo. Born of a Sikh father and Hungarian Jewish mother, she started painting at a very early age. She went to Italy and Paris and came in contact with many European painters and drew inspiration from them and many others. Her first important work Young Girls made her an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris, the youngest artist ever to achieve this.

Contemporary Indian artist Vivan Sundaram is the son of Amrita's sister Indira.

My Take on These Indian Artists

2012-01-07T23:49:00.002+05:30

I would like to present my personal opinions about the art of the following artists here one by one. Read the coming posts and kindly post your comments.

Abanindranath Tagore
Amrita Shergill
Anjolie Ela Menon
B C Sanyal
Bikash Bhattacharjee
Binod Behari Mukherjee
Francis Newton Souza
Gaganendranath Tagore
Jamini Roy
Manjit Bawa
MF Hussain
Mukul Chandra Dey
Nandalal Bose
Raja Ravi Varma
Rabindranath Tagore
Rameshwar Broota
Satish Gujral
S H Raza
Tyeb Mehta

Some Indian Artists I Respect

2012-01-04T00:01:00.004+05:30

Subrata Gangopadhyay
Jagannath Paul
Prakash Deshmukh
Anand Panchal
Sanatan Dinda
Subrata Das
S K Sirajuddin
The Singh Twins
(Not in the order of my respect :-)

What the heck is art by Gurmeet

2011-12-27T22:33:00.003+05:30

This is an interesting blog where Gurmeet makes fun of some of the contemporary masters. Although I do not agree with all of his views, they are really food for thought.
The blog is here

L M Singhvi : Pen and Ink

2011-12-25T12:23:00.003+05:30

Angela Merkel: Pen and Ink

2011-12-22T15:27:00.003+05:30

Homage to Mario Miranda

2011-12-13T00:06:00.005+05:30

Mario(1926 – 2011) was not only an illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist. He was also a muralist. He had no formal education in art. Perhaps that gave him his originality. Self taught artists are hugely inspiring.

A Kearala Landscape with Kuttanad Backwaters and a House Boat

2011-12-08T22:42:00.007+05:30

The word 'landscape' has Dutch origin. The word entered the English language in the beginning of the 17th century. First it was used purely as a term for works of art. Its history goes back to cave paintings where the texture on the rocks itself provided ample details for the terrain depicted.

Here is my new landscape painting of Kuttanad with a house boat and all...

Relevance of flower paintings

2011-11-29T00:18:00.004+05:30

Flower paintings have been favourites of art lovers throughout the history of art. Its appeal is univarsal. Flowers have a common language which is appreciated by all, irrespective of age, belief, sex, and philosophies. From among the decorative art sales roughly 65 per cent is flower paintings. Roses are the most favourites among the flower paintings.

Most of the major painters have painted flowers. Pierre-Joseph Redoute, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol etc are some of the names.In Indian miniature paintings, flowers have a very important role.

A sample of gentle analysis of some paintings!

2011-11-13T23:37:00.005+05:30

From studies to finished paintings... a gentle analysis.

Rose is white

2011-11-09T21:59:00.002+05:30

Taken by my Nokia 5800. Just 3.2 MP. The credit goes to the rose plant(for striking such a pose) and the sun(for taking care of the ISO part).

2011-11-04T22:54:00.001+05:30

Self Portrait in Pencil on handmade paper

2011-08-01T00:01:00.001+05:30

This is almost me.

Earlier stages of two paintings

2011-07-04T23:07:00.004+05:30

Watercolor painting of Kerala Backwaters

2011-07-02T13:30:00.002+05:30

This painting is 24 x34 cms Watercolr on Paper
The paper is imported from Italy and watercolors are Daler Rowney imported from England.

Unreal City

2011-06-27T20:46:00.005+05:30

My new painting is almost finished. It is titled "Unreal City" and is part of a series on visual readings of famous poems. This painting is based on The Wasteland by T S Eliot.

The painting takes it title from a line that is repeated many times in the poem. The images are drawn mainly from the following lines.

Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying "Stetson!
"You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
"Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
"Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
"Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
"Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
"You! hypocrite lecteur! - mon semblable, - mon frere!"

The painting is an interpretation of the poem. As I understand the poem speaks about the futility of human conflicts irrespective of the time or place in which they take place. Hence my foreground figures that represent a Roman soldier and a World War I soldier symbolising Stetson and the protagonist who defy time and meet in the background of the London Bridge. The message we get is that all war is one war, equally absurd. The place is any place.

What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth
Ringed by the flat horizon only
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal

Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria, Vienna or London, the place is irrelavant. I use some landmarks of Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria and London to represent them and show that the scene depicted is 'any city'. Also I represent the 'falling towers'as the Tower of Babel which is relevant as the poem depicts failures in communication. The half completed tower in the picture represents this.The ship stuck in the drying river evokes connotations of the Smyrna merchant. The ship is inscribed with the lines 'Od' und leer das Meer'.

Article on Picasso's art by Jung

2011-06-24T13:19:00.003+05:30

The last article in the book ( Jung: The Spirit in Mn, Art and Literature )on Picasso is interesting. Though Jung does not talk about the artistic aspect of his art, he elaborates the psychology underlying his creativeness. He makes a comparative study of the visual expressions of neurotics and schizophrenics with the art of Picasso. According to him Picasso belongs to the latter group, (not that he suffers from schizophrenia)the main charecteristic of which is fragmentation and such visual expressions contain psychic fault lines. "The picture leaves one cold, or disturbs one by its paradoxical, unfeeling and grotesque unconcern for the beholder."

There can be many fraudulent buying offers, and the artists need to be cautuious!

2011-04-28T23:08:00.004+05:30

One gentleman wrote to me the following through email:

Thanks for the message,I am very happy to know that the Artwork is still available for sale. i must tell you i am very much interested in the immediate purchase and i am willing to pay the asking price .

I will like to let you know that your payment will be in a Certified Cashiers Check and i will wait till it clears your bank before telling my shipper to come for the pick up, this will not take time at all because the payment will be sent out immediately i read back from you.You don't have to worry about shipment, my shipper will handle it.

This is because i am currently out of the country on a business proposal. So get back to me with the information needed to send you the payment I:E :Full Name
Standard Mailing Address
Phone numbers
asking price reconfirmation so that i can proceed with the payment arrangement, consider it sold get back to me with the details.will await your message.

I promptly replied and then came this:

Hello,
Thanks for the details which Ive noted down and have also forwarded it
to my shipper.He's due in the US sometime next week and will

definitely be getting in touch with you for the pickup.The truth is, I
would have handled this much differently if i would be at home but Im
a bit pressed for time myself. Im moving to the UK this month as im
being transferred.As it is, I'm sending you an overdraft which will
include my shippers fees as well.He has asked for an upfront before
coming and since I have no access to a lot of cash, Im trying to kill
two birds with a stone.So, once you've received and cashed the check,
deduct your funds and PLEASE help me send the remaining funds to him
(shipper).I'll forward his contact details to you once you've received
the payment.Now I'm concluding you are a responsible person and I can
therefore entrust you with this arrangement.Ill let you know
Immediately the check is sent out to you so you should be looking out
for it.P.S:I`ll require that a reconfirmation of your address is donehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

for menow. I await your reply.

I smelled a rat and stopped communicating with the fellow. I think this is a kind of fraud buy I don't understand how the fellow is going to benefit. If anyone knows more about such fraud, please comment.

Read some sample dubious proposals at artprice.com here.

Biju P Mathew's painting Blue Lotus - Interiors with a blue theme

2011-04-27T23:02:00.011+05:30

This is a painting suitable for a blue themed room. Lotus has a lot of symbolic significance in the Indian context. It represents the blooming of wisdom in one of its manifestations. Blue lotus has more symbolic weight lent by the color blue.

The painting on the wall looked like this

2011-01-25T22:27:00.004+05:30

Here is the painting on the wall

One more bird painting, framed

2011-01-25T22:23:00.001+05:30

This painting is framed for my interior decor

I framed this paiinting and some others for the new house

2011-01-25T22:17:00.003+05:30

This framed painting I am ready to part with....

I was busy with the construction... now turning back to paintng

2011-01-25T22:12:00.001+05:30

Here is my new house which drove my attention away from painting for a while... Now I am back on track.

Biju's Gallery at Fineart America

2010-10-11T21:58:00.002+05:30

Here is Biju's gallery at fineartamerica.com

Biju's gallery at thesecondhanging.com

2010-08-25T14:30:00.003+05:30

Here is the gallery at thesecondhanging.com by Biju.

Read the artist interview of Biju at whopple.com

2010-08-25T14:00:00.002+05:30

An interview of Biju may be read at whopple.com

Choosing a subject for painting (Choice in art and art of choosing!)

2010-08-20T14:59:00.003+05:30

Choice is a complex issue, whatever the context is. But in the case of painting it is intimidating if you are proceeding from an intention to paint, to the subject and then finally to the execution. I feel myself lucky if the order is, first the subject, then a compulsion to paint it and then the happy execution. Unfortunately there are occasions when the former is the case and I am considering only this scenario here.
My medium plays an important role in determining the aesthetics of my art. Just because I like something, I may not choose it as a subject for painting. I first consult my acrylics, canvas and brushes and make an informed decision. Of course I have a choice there too, but that choice is fairly limited. Personal preferences are different from aesthetic choice. I like ‘cherupayar paayasam’ (sweet pudding kerala version) but I shall not dare to paint it.
In the scenario I chose, a few unconscious mental processes take place. I have certain concepts about successful paintings. I have in my mind’s eye paintings of some old masters. Or even some modern masters. If my idea doesn’t conform to those, they are rejected. Being shockingly different is possible only once. Presenting a urinal as an installation work is no more art. It is plagiarism.
Another thought is about what I am good at. My own estimates about my abilities are often flowed. But confidence is important. So some subjects are preferred over some others.
Most important consideration however is my audience. This is not the case simply with painting. When you prepare a speech, this is your foremost consideration. Same is the case with any artistic expression. My paintings should be telling the spectator, “Buy meeeee!”. Market consideration is an undeniable influence until I can afford the exorbitant price of quality paint and canvas.
After all these mundane considerations, if my paintings have artistic value or worthiness to be termed as ‘good paintings’ I call myself successful.
A very good lecture by Sheena Iyengar is available in this link about the art of choosing.

Theme painting for a green theme room

2010-05-23T21:58:00.002+05:30

This painting is not finished

Color Theme Painting

2010-05-23T21:53:00.003+05:30

Here is a painting suitable for charging up the interiors of a blue themed room.

Here is another full view of the canvas

Bird on Hibiscus, New nature painting

2010-04-27T20:34:00.002+05:30

Here is the almost completed new painting done in acrylic on paper..
Size 10/14 inches

My weekend at Kuttanad Backwaters, an inspiration for my paintings

2010-02-13T22:12:00.006+05:30

I have painted Kuttanad landscape and backwaters many times before. After my visit to these beautiful waterscapes, I am sure I will be painting more of them. See one of my earlier paintings here. Enjoy these scenes...

Enjoying Abstract Art

2010-01-25T20:59:00.002+05:30

Abstract paintings have their own place in art history. But how some pseudo intellectuals talk about abstracts has nothing to do with its true appreciation. It has always been a conundrum for ordinary people when they confront such a painting as to how to make meaning out of it. My views own the true worth of abstract paintings and how to appreciate them are discussed in the forthcoming article in the ‘articles’ section of varnachitra online gallery

Next Step of the the painting Unreal City

2010-01-24T23:33:00.001+05:30

Unreal city is progressing very slowly. Here is the latest stage where the painting has reached.

My art websites are now on a new host

2010-01-21T22:00:00.002+05:30

I shifted to paid hosting at last. I was trying the benefits of free hosting for the last two years, but the servers started to become unstable recently. from 17 this month there was a surprising outage of about 2 days. I ran for life and my two sites, varnachitra and seekpaintings are working fine now on new hosts. I have started working on a new painting in the mean time which is a nature painting in the line of 'stealer' an earlier painting. Stealer and seven other paintings are now with novica.com.

Next painting is titled for the time being 'Jest'

2010-01-06T21:53:00.002+05:30

A new painting is in the process of sketches. I would like it to be in the surrealist, or magical realist genre. This is the second one where I shift myself away from simple nature paintings to slightly brainy ones. I use the traditional art forms of Kerala for conveying my idea. Please wait for a few more days to see the final sketch.

Life on Mobius Strips , The painting is finished

2009-12-06T22:35:00.011+05:30

Life is a theme of art from time immemorial. It will continue to be so in a foreseeable future. Life may be lived at multiple planes if we are imaginative. But what happens is, most people live it on a single plane, not being able to explore all those possibilities and wonder at all those marvels. It moves as if on a Mobius strip which has only one plane. The background of this painting is inspired by a Hubble photograph from NASA. It shows gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula. The pillars are several light years in length. It is capable of invoking a gasp of wonder from any reasonable, thinking human being.

This painting is titled "Life on Mobius Strips"

My paintings feature in the poetry magazine Kritya

2009-12-03T22:51:00.003+05:30

The current issue of Kritya feature Biju's paintings related to the theme of nature. Read the magazine here.

Meet my poet friend

2009-11-30T17:20:00.006+05:30

A C Sreehari was a budding poet, once upon a time. Not anymore. I mean, he is almost a veteran already. He has talent and genius. To have a taste of some of his poems, go to DC Books and buy his collection. Or here you can have a taste.

An older simpler painting

2009-11-24T13:55:00.002+05:30

This is one of my earlier paintings in which yellow dominates. Do you think it a bit jarring? me too.

At last the Lake Isle painting is finished.

2009-10-25T21:10:00.001+05:30

Finally Let me call this painting finished.

Lake Isle of Kuttanad painting... another shot

2009-10-24T21:06:00.005+05:30

Kuttanad is a beautiful granary of Kerala. The landscape is quite beautiful and serene. It is capable of inspiring the artist in you.
This painting is almost done. The size is 27X17 inches. It is done in acrylic on canvas. I posted the earlier stages but here is a perhaps better picture, except for the buckled canvas which was due to the wrong way I held the canvas.

Painting painterly paintings

2009-10-23T21:18:00.009+05:30

William Bouguereau's paintings were ridiculed by some impressionists and modernists as having a licked finish. But the fact is that on closer inspection all art have some painterly touch to it. John Singer Sargent is one of the painters who is famous for his painterly style. But the fact is that he actually worked very hard to achieve the effect that he had painted the picture with great ease at one stroke. He scraped out and repainted many parts of his paintings. Look at one of the paintings of Bouguereau. Notice how the folds on the skirt are painted in a painterly way.

What is good or bad in art?

2009-10-13T19:33:00.002+05:30

Discussions about which is good art and which is bad is basically meaningless. One man's good may be another one's bad. And such opinions are susceptible to change also. There cannot be any catechism for art.

This is one of my earlier paintings

2009-10-03T22:56:00.004+05:30

This classical landscape reproduction is sold and is at the house of Sri Jomon T C

My next painting is titled 'Life on Mobius Strips'

2009-08-24T07:26:00.002+05:30

Life can be lived on different planes. But unfortunately most of us live even unaware that we are living. It is lived on a single plane and that too pathetically. This thought gave rise to this painting... Inspiration is also derived from Hubble Telescope photographs. Picture of the painting will be added soon.

Action Painting, expressionism, Jackson Pollock... bla bla bla...

2009-08-01T22:19:00.005+05:30

Jackson Pollock painted his masterpieces by dripping, and throwing paint on to a canvas. What did he paint like that... god knows. But his No.5 (some people thought that it was utter crap and preferred to call it No.2:-)) sold for $ 140.000.000 which would make it one of the most expensive paintings.

2009-08-01T22:19:00.000+05:30

Lake Isle of Kuttanad... Another painting is in progress..

2009-07-26T21:18:00.002+05:30

Some people live in small island like pieces of land in Kuttanad, Kerala. It looks a serene setting to live in. Though I know that they have their own problems, that too, serious ones, it is apt for romanticizing. My next Kuttanad landscape is in the making. I have already done the background and the sky. Hope you like it.

To understand the value of time, you must read this...

2009-07-24T22:16:00.003+05:30

Artist Robert Genn wrote this to me and I would like all of you to read this... and watch the video if your bandwidth allows..

Running out of time

July 24, 2009

Dear Biju,

Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September 2006 he learned he had pancreatic cancer. Feeling the need to spend as much time as possible with his family, Randy cleared his desk and moved his wife, Jai, and their three young children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe, to another state. Here, he rationalized, the children might be better able to receive the wisdom of their grandparents and begin a life without their dad.

A cheerful, optimistic and innately curious chap from the get-go, Randy seemed to accept his fate with more equanimity than his friends and colleagues gave him. As was the tradition with retiring faculty at CMU, he was asked to give a last lecture, a mixt of summing up and parting advice to any students or others who might be interested. Just as knowing when the date and time of the end of a vacation determines how one might take advantage of the last days, such a lecture might be particularly cogent. Four hundred people showed up. Videos were made. A book came out if it. Among other things, Randy gave some straightforward advice to anyone who might be running out of time.

Time must be explicitly managed, like money.
You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.
Break big tasks into small ones and put them on lists.
Ask yourself if you're spending time on the right stuff.
Develop a good filing system and stick with it.
Get yourself a speakerphone so your hands can stay busy.
Learn to delegate, and especially empower younger people.
Make occasional time for a genuine time out.

To those who heard Randy's reminders, and those who have read The Last Lecture in book form, it seems incredible that such straightforward suggestions can come from a terminally ill person. Running out of time, Randy's remaining days were joyful--not that he was going to receive some special dispensation, but he was empowered with the idea that people can be simple bridges to one another. Life itself will go on after we depart, and there will be others eager to keep the faith of trying to figure things out and pass on their findings. Our world is a moldable, improvable place.

Randy Pausch died on July 25, 2008. He was 47 years old.

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think." (Randy Pausch)

Esoterica: Randy was upbeat and witty during his lecture, alternating between wisecracks and insights on computer science and engineering education. After doing a few push-ups on stage, he gave advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with others, and offered inspirational life lessons. Speakers who followed up were in tears. CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world with a raised pedestrian bridge to connect the new Computer Science Building and the Center for the Arts, symbolizing the way Pausch linked disciplines.

Watch the Last Lecture

Reflecting Kingfisher Painting Finished!!

2009-07-21T00:23:00.003+05:30

This painting is almost finished
Ref No: 49
Reflections of a Bird
27X13 inches
Acrylic on Canvas
For more information go to www.varnachitra.com

Art as spontaneous expression ? (Nonsense!)

2009-07-16T21:35:00.008+05:30

Recently on TV I came across an event in which different poets were reciting their poems in memory of a bygone poet. As part of it there was a recital along with which was a live demonstration of Artist Namboothiri. Artist Namboothiri is a great artist with lot of original talent. He is, shall I say, a genius. He was apparently translating to canvas the poem that was being recited. But most probably he came with a plan and he was executing it. All this prompted me to think whether this impromptu thing was possible.

My thinking is that painting involves a lot of technique and planning. There are artists like Jackson Pollock who throw paint on canvas. I am not a great fan of such expressionists. I believe in the conscious use of principles and techniques. I think that is true about all artistic expressions including poetry.

Wordsworth talks about 'emotions recollected in tranquility', not emotion expressed as is.

I remember my literature classes nearly fifteen years ago. The famous Victorian poet Tennyson's most famous poem is 'In Memoriam'. It is an elegy on the death of his college friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. Hallem died in 1833. In Memoriam was published only 1850. It took 17 years for Tennyson to perfect his emotion in the form of an artistic expression. By that time what must have happened to the original emotion is anybody's guess. The poem is written in a metre that is quite rare, which is now called the In Memoriam metre. It is deftly managed. It is an entirely different thing from impromptu emotional response. Artistic expression is often premeditated, planned and involving technical skill, I think.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak at St Berchmans Changanassery

2009-06-29T19:39:00.003+05:30

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak came to Changanassery and delivered C.A. Sheppard memorial lecture. I was invited by Mr P J Thomas who was behind bringing her to the college. It was a wonderful experience listening to her speaking about the relevance of humanities. I never thought that post modern theorists could speak with such clarity. Her occasional remark that she did not believe in the immortality of the soul raised a few ecclesiastical eyebrows, I could sense. I am a lover of modern theory in that it holds the view, there is nothing all good and nothing all bad, as Spivak said. I want to base my art on such a liberal view. Thanks PJT for inviting me for the lecture.

One of my earlier paintings

2009-06-22T21:23:00.003+05:30

Dragonflies don't deserve such a bad name. I think they have no relation whatsoever with dragons. These beautiful creatures are excellent subjects for paintings by a nature lover. I plan to do more such paintings.

How great an artist God is!

2009-06-18T19:57:00.003+05:30

My home in North Malabar is rich with flowers and butterflies. Probably some of the butterflies like this one will be immortalized in one of my future paintings.

My New painting is based on 'The Wasteland' by T S Eliot

2009-06-08T22:06:00.001+05:30

This painting in progress is based on 'The Wasteland' by Eliot. Especially the first part of the poem, 'The Burial of the Dead'. The following lines present the key visual image;

Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying "Stetson!
"You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
"Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
"Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
"Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
"Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
"You! hypocrite lecteur! - mon semblable, - mon frere!"

Time place and cultures merge in my visual reading of 'The burial of the dead'. I plan to title the work as 'Unreal City'. Stetson from the Battle of Mylae talking to a soldier from the first world war is the compelling inspiration for this painting. This image drives home the important message that all war is one war, equally nonsensical. I plan to dehumanize Stetson and the World War I soldier.

2009-05-22T18:23:00.001+05:30

Here is a larger floral painting
Size 14.5X24.5 inches without frame
On acid free handmade paper

2009-05-14T08:45:00.001+05:30

This is my latest floral painting. Acrylic on acid free paper
size 14x10 inches.
Hope you like this

Click here to visit one of my online galleries...

2009-04-19T13:16:00.000+05:30

Get this painting absolutely free!!

2009-04-16T23:29:00.000+05:30

Get this painting without spending a penny, except the postage. Visit
http://seekpaintings.com/detail_s/45.html
and click 'order now'
Fill the applicable columns only.
First come first served

Art and different media.

2009-03-11T23:21:00.000+05:30

I have noticed in some artists a tendency to glorify the media they are comfortable with, to the exclusion of all others. This is not bad at all. But when they condescendingly talk about other media (often indirectly or as a slip of tongue) it sounds irritating. Recently I heard a remark by an artist on television saying that watercolor is 'the' medium for artists and acrylic is a medium for all and sundry. A practicing artist knows that each medium has its own possibilities, peculiarities and challenges. Perhaps his contention is that acrylic is a new medium compared to watercolors. But a little bit of history will teach you that watercolor was a new medium during 1500s whereas oil paints were used from ancient Roman times. Until 1800s watercolors did not enjoy much of a consensus as a serious medium. There is no meaning in upholding or deriding a particular medium. Undoubtedly the medium of the present times of polymers is acrylics. It has the advantages of lightfastness and durability.

The above painting is not mine. It is a historical watercolor by Albrecht Dürer titled, "A Young Hare" done in 1502.

Another painting added to the gallery

2009-03-11T22:52:00.000+05:30

This painting is a landscape. I am presently working on my readings of modern poets.

2009-01-11T11:51:00.000+05:30

Guava and Bird, Acrylic on Acid Free Paper. To see more paintings click the links at top right.

2009-01-11T11:24:00.000+05:30

See my restructured site

www.SeekPaintings.com

Art and Economy

2008-12-27T21:42:00.000+05:30

Artists are fearing the impact of global economic slowdown. What should artists do at this time? Create more art and keep them ready for the renaissance that is to follow. Let all pseudo art perish in this wave. Happy tomorrow.

2008-11-05T23:20:00.000+05:30

For more paintings visit

VarnaChitra.com

2008-11-05T23:19:00.001+05:30

This guava painting is my latest acrylic on paper. How about this botanical style painting with a stylized butterfly on it? Comment on this painting please.

2008-11-05T23:14:00.000+05:30

About the artist

2008-11-05T22:59:00.000+05:30

I am Biju P Mathew, an artist from Kerala, India. I wish to share my thoughts on art and other subjects through this space. To see my paintings visit

www.SeekPaintings.com

www.VarnaChitra.com