Murale Cheeroth

Artville Artist Of The Day 
Murali Cheeroth
Untitled
Oil On Canvas
42 X 60 Inches
2008

Murali Cheeroth, through his works, reveals his concern about physical and psychological aspects of violence that pervades contemporary reality. This over-forty Bangalore-based artist has seen life’s differing contours closely. Born in a small village in Kerala he developed interest in art since his early days. After acquiring Diploma in Painting from Govt. College of Art, Trissur in 1987, he left for Shantiniketan to complete his BFA and MFA in Graphic Art. His next stop was Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal where he stayed for a year before proceeding to Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad first as a resident artist and then as a faculty. Murali who has taught at College of Architecture, Ahmedabad and National Institute of Design has, since 2000, made Bangalore his home.

Murali has held several solo and two/three-person exhibitions besides participating in group shows in different cities of India as well as Sophia (Bulgaria), Bangkok, New York, Durban, and Dubai. Murali’s recent paintings seem like vignettes of an erupting city. The artist’s past involvement with theatre and continuing interest in cinema helps him present his images through unusual perspective and dramatic ambiance.

In his paintings, the human figure holds a sense of mystery. Isolated and enigmatic, its profile is either partially seen or intentionally blurred. Harshly illuminated by a flood of colorful neon lights, it seems to be living on the edge. His forms come across with sweeping brushstrokes shaping fleeting images of the mechanical superficialities like in his ‘mise-en-scene’ series. Man is relentlessly engulfed in his interactions with the mechanical machines, ignorant of a conscience that may lead to an eventual irreparable havoc.

In several instances, Murali grasps the gait and movement of uniformed men, who are seen casually carrying weapons. There is an inherent sense of violence in all these works but the socio-political implications are carefully controlled and subdued. His idiom is stronger and the strokes fast and frenetic, quite like city life. The urban tribe, children of displacement, living in an emerging world, with new problems and new thrills are effectively delineated on the canvases using unnatural, hybrid colors like neon hues and halogen tones. "There are no natural colors," points out the artist at the use of this modern palette, a contemporary color scheme.

The story Murali Cheeroth is telling is clearly of this citizen who's finding his bearings in a new space. There is a feel of centrifugal speed, of spin, of motion adroitly created by technique and the works leave you stirred. The artist's creative zeal does not stop with a painted thought process but carries on with interesting captions. He feels, “A viewer feels very comfortable with an untitled work but a caption gives him a lead.” A clever way with words for a work is this caption: clockwise from below left. There is a sense of excited movement in the work. Most contours are hazy and brisk as identities get lost in a city and new faces emerge.
The artist lives and works in Bangalore.
Suruchi Khubchandani
courtesy:shrineempiregallery

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