Trucks
Lush, verdant, and luxuriant, with colours richer and deeper, varying shades that dance within a green spectrum, foliage that bends into a water line of endless canals and placid backwaters, that is Enda Keralam, a colorist’s delight.
The land and the sky vie with each other for the photographer’s eye, and the lens plays tricks on the composition.
Visual distraction has inspired poets, writers, and painters who have blended colour with religion and the daily fare of life.
Over the years, right through history, be it a painter-priest or a humble artisan who adorns trucks, nature has been an integral influence on their work.
The muralists in temples painting gods and flowers, and the street painters advocating the benefits of red and green toothpaste, compete with the truck painters on themes, colours, and creative writing.
The presence and absence of god, in god’s own country can be seen in the political banners from Ram to Marx, from green to saffron and red.
The foliage and the monsoon evidence the power of nature on the visual senses of the artists and craftsmen.
This extension to the artisans and painters is seen in rich embellishment, be it the gold jewellery that adorns the women, or the elaborate visual and verbal endearments with which men decorate their valuable movable assets – their trucks!
The relationship between a Kerala truck owner and this machine is intense, personal, and endearing, and its adornment is similar to a man who adorns his wife to illustrate his prosperity.
The artisan painters also are part-time poets, copywriters, and graphic designers as the themes stretch from nature to words of love, philosophy, and advice to other vehicle owners and to the public at large.
The truck chassis are fitted onto wooden platforms with brightly painted hand-carved images of foliage, animals, and gods.
There are carved wooden panels, vibrantly coloured pop foliate forms, fashioned like the fringes of the ’70s pop icons, on these roaring vehicles.
The trucks are an extension of the family and have endearing names… Baby… Uncle… Moll… and names of daughters, sons, wives, and lovers…painted like tattoos on the cabin frame in the front. On the road the trucks look like a pop palette, creatures zooming around on the street, oblivious to their outlandish presence.
The painted panels on the cabins and at the rear and front of the trucks stand out in the chaos and traffic of this bustling literate state.
There are several artisans who follow the same traditional rendition of foliage forms, with more than a little help on verse and rhyme from the street bard.
The truck art is local tradition and fashion, influenced by nature and by affluence, its colourful visual embellishments with catchy phrases with or without grammar, painted in glossy commercial paint reflecting the artisan and the patron.
Press Coverage
Deccan Herald – Feb 16, 2014
Giridhar Khasnis acquaints us with two passionate artists, Narendra Yadav and George K, who have stayed true to their practice despite the market.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/386569/probing-art.html
The Hindu (Metroplus) – July 2, 2013 – Spotlight on Art Forms
… George K.’s The Dance Of Life explored the “duality of existence and illusion” with sculptures in meditative dance poses …
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/events/spotlight-on-art-forms/article4873240.ec
A sculpture by the artist George K. - Prakash Singh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Eighty-four galleries were represented, showing the work of 500 mostly Indian modern and contemporary artists.”
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/01/31/arts/design/20110131-summit-2.html
Financial Times – January 28 2011 20:54
FULL SPEED AHEAD AT THE INDIA ART SUMMIT
By Jan Dalley
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/75c1f92e-2a62-11e0-804a-00144feab49a,_i_email=y.html
Times of India – Delhi – January 20, 2011
India Art Summit
…A sculpture by artist George K. during the Indian Art Summit…
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/search/photos?…India+Art+Summit
France24 – 21 Jan 2011
Booming India draws foreign art dealers
… A sculpture by artist George K. is seen on display at
the Indian Art Summitin New Delhi, on January 20. India’s biggest art fair opens on …
www.france24.com/…/20110121-booming-india-draws-foreign-art-dealers
Hindustan Times
On the second day of the India Art Summit, we bring to you some
artworks and … A sculpture made out of newspaper by artist George K, is a part of the …
www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/653032.aspx
Taipei Times – 23 Jan 2011
Booming India draws foreign art dealers
… A sculpture by artist George K. is on display during the Indian Art Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2011/01/23/2003494178
The Hindu : NATIONAL / NEW DELHI – 21 Jan 2011
Art at its peak
… Inviting attention: A sculpture by artist George K. at
the third India Art Summit in New Delhi on Thursday. The four-day show is open up to …
www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/…/article1107459.ece
Deccan Herald – Year of revival
Following close on the heels of the hugely hyped India Art Summit held in August in …sculptures by Columbian artist Claudia Hakim, European art in India has never … Then there are artists like George K, Alexis Kersey, Lavanya Mani, …
www.deccanherald.com/content/43369/year-revival.ht
Yahoo! News – 21 Jan 2011
Booming India draws foreign art dealers
… Booming India draws foreign art dealers AFP – A
sculpture by artist George K. is seen on display at the Indian Art Summit in New Delhi, …
news.yahoo.com/s/…/lifestyleindiaeconomyart_20110121062340
USATODAY.com – January 20, 2011 – London Story Page
Courtesy AFP/Getty Images A sculpture by artist George K. during the Indian Art Summit in New Delhi
www.usatoday.com/topics/article/Places,+Geography/…/26
PTI – January 20, 2011 – Story Page – USATODAY.com
Courtesy AFP/Getty Images – A sculpture by artist George K. during the Indian Art Summit in New Delhi. — The third edition of the …
www.usatoday.com/topics/article/Organizations/…India/…/15
France24 – 21 Jan 2011 – TOP STORIES
Booming India draws foreign art dealers | France
… A sculpture by artist George K. is seen on display at the Indian Art Summit …
www.france.world-countries.net/archives/95887
LiveNewsIndia.com – 22 Jan 2011
Breaking new grounds
… On a second day of a India Art Summit, we move to we some artworks and galleries we … A sculpture done out of journal by artist George K, …
www.livenewsindia.com/featured/breaking-new-grounds
Buzzintown India – 25 Jan 2011
An art mela like none other
… Review: Art (India Art Summit), India Art Summit . …
Express Buzz – epaper
George K’s face of the news got the eyeballs and the claps. …
Similarly The Robert Bownman Modern had very intriguing sculptures;
Johannes von Stuman FRBS’s glass
http://epaper.expressbuzz.com/NE/NE/2009/07/31/index.shtml
