Inspiration in strokes

A group show by women artists was held at Renaissance Art Gallery in the City recently. The four artists were Renuka Kesaramadu, Rupa Mahesh, Nirmala Kumari, and Geeta Kekobad. Three of the women live and work in Tumkur while the fourth, Geeta is from Gujarat.

“I have been painting for over 20 years and my work included miniatures and aluminium sculptures,” says Renuka. Her series titled Earth reflect many different aspects of her life and personality. “My family is scattered in different places around the globe.

I use my acrylic paints to fill in the spaces left by the white canvas, highlighting emotions with gold and silver. I initially started out with a black and white series but it slowly evolved into a mixed-media collection,” she explains. Sketches, semi abstracts and abstracts, each set depicting the nature and inspiration of the respective artist. The Earth series had amorphous forms, hands reaching out across a swirling sphere of energy, the gold and white standing out in stark contrast to the blacks and whites.

Rupa, on the other hand, started her art after her children were grown and her series of oils depict the natural bounty of the universe that is meant for all but shared only by some.

“There is a lot of feeling that emerges from my sub-consciousness and expresses itself on canvas. While travelling between cities, I am often inspired and disturbed by images that seem familiar till I realise that I have projected them onto my paintings. To me, rocks are a symbol of solid strength and resilience. The sky, a natural shelter for the whole of humanity. Humans have been given so much by nature and yet they share so little, choosing to exploit the poor and under-privileged, instead of uplifting them,” she says.

Faces with strongly defined features, striking black and white drawings, figures entwined in a shared moment of bonding, softly defined landscapes, all these were part of the group show at the gallery.