Making a statement through art

Artists such as K S Appajaiah and others like him often favour the use of mixed-media to create expressive, unique and dramatic paintings which explore themes that are important to them either politically, socially, morally, or emotionally. At his current exhibition titled The Persistence of Memory, Appajaiah uses ordinary objects, many of which are closely associated with his growing years in a simple rural household without the luxury of present day conveniences.

Telling a story with paint is called narrative art and Appajaiah like other artists of this genre appears to be making a social statement and defining public morality at some level.

The close-up of an old kitchen stove, the kind used by his mother to cook food on or heat water during winter, the heavy iron that preceded the lighter and more handy electrical appliance and was an integral part of most households keeping the family members in neatly pressed garments; a pair of scissors its blades split apart ready to slice into something; a black umbrella suspended in the middle of a stark white background, there are several metaphors like these drawn from everyday life in a bygone era that Appajaiah uses in his work.  He has also used techniques that combine various traditionally distinct visual art media. Some of his canvases combine ink, print and collage, some tell a story with paint and some pay homage to artists like Marcel Duchamp, who actually transported a man’s urinal into a gallery and defined it as art.

The feudal system with its myriad injustices, the hurt of a child who nurtured a lamb as a pet only to have it sold to a butcher, a pile of abandoned books stacked on a chair surrounded by grinning skulls, a glowing electrical bulb spreading light, dispelling darkness and attracting insects which are drawn to it in a self destructive suicide mission — many of his paintings are visually shocking, compelling and not necessarily ‘pretty’ in any real sense of the word.

By and large Appajaiah uses everyday objects in conjunction with traditional artist media