Sulemani Chai is artist Nilofer Suleman's debut exhibition that presents Chinamma and Jayaram's love story, movie-style. Enter lech Tiger Murugesh and seductress Kanan Bala, and you have a potboiler on your hands
Sulemani Chai is artist Nilofer Suleman's debut exhibition that presents Chinamma and Jayaram's love story, movie-style. Enter lech Tiger Murugesh and seductress Kanan Bala, and you have a potboiler on your hands
One look at Nilofer Suleman's work and you are captivated by its startling portrayal of our everyday world in technicolour. From the Royal Fantasy Paan Center (owned by Paan King Manoharlal Rambo) to Josy Kuttis Genuine Eggs (that sells "Hygenecally Healthy Newly Laid Eggs 24x7"), it's all there in Suleman's exhibition of her latest works.u00a0
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Artist Nilofer Suleman's take on a typical photo studio shows photographer Ramlal Pardesi, a specialist in wedding and honeymoon photography, running a pornography racket on the side |
The Fauvist (paintings characterised by intensely vivid, non-naturalistic and exuberant colours) collection delves into South Indian typecasts that the artist encountered back home in Bangalore. The protagonists are flower-seller Chinamma and the odd jobs man Jayaram, whose love story is at the crux of the series. And then, there's a huge supporting cast, including the sly and lecherous Ramlal Pardesi and Tiger Murugesh, seductress Kanan Bala, the disapproving Amma and love-struck Lakshmi. Each painting relates a story that occurs in the lives of some of these characters. "I wanted to capture certain nuances of Indian behaviour. The characters in my paintings are stereotypical of a particular section of the society. These are people I meet at bus stops or in shops. They are very real," says the 40 year-old artist.
A painting that tells us movie-style stories, requires a lot of action on canvas. Subtleties convey the humour in our banal existence, so, look out for shop hoardings, signage and notes to customers. An attention to detail comes naturally to Suleman, thanks to her previous experience as a cartographer and miniature artist. "When I decide to paint a paanwala's shop, I take pictures of as many such shops as I can find, to capture the essence of the place. I'm fascinated by the unintentional wrong spellings and double meaning lines. There's a naivete to all of this which is endearing," smiles Suleman.
As an artist, Suleman received technical training in Western and Indian miniatures, and spent seven years sketching maps, recreating and making new miniatures. Over the years, she got tired of the technicality. "I realised that creativity begins when technicality ends. Instead of aimlessly copying Western art, which is getting solemn and morbid, why not look at Indians who are inherently vivacious. If our world is made up of fluorescent greens and ceruvian blues, let's be gung-ho about it," Suleman declares.
At: Admiralty Building, Colaba Cross Lane, Colaba. Call: 22163339 / 2218. Till: November 7.
