The College of Fine Arts has a unique place in Indian art history as the origin point of a short-lived movement that still produces reverberations once in a while – the radical arts movement.

Fuelled by post-Emergency political fervour, a group of students from the college set out to produce a proletarian art movement that eschewed the existing visual styles.

The flames of rebellion were lighted by K.P. Krishnakumar, a student of the college in the 1970s, then practising his art in Baroda. Inspired by his call for change, college students Alexander, Hareendran, C.K. Rajan, Pradeep, and Jyothi Basu organised a camp among the fisherfolk of Vettukad with the help of a few liberation theology activists.

New avenues

Living with the fishing families for weeks and teaching them art through slideshows and then by making them the subject of their work in various mediums, the group opened new avenues in people’s art. These young artists then came together with other seniors from the college such as Alex Mathew, Pushkin E.H., K.M. Madhusudhan, K. Prabhakaran, and the sole non-Malayali Anita Dube to form the Indian Radical Painters and Sculptors’ Association in 1987.

Krishnakumar penned the group’s manifesto along with Anita Dube. It was a time of student protests against the policies of the government and in the college that of the administration, and it was all reflected in their programme. They questioned even the ‘retrogressive’ sensibilities of the Lalit Kala Akademi.

“The lack of guidance and the disruption of regular teaching had left us in search of possibilities through reading, looking, thinking, and interacting with each other. The discovery of great figures of world art who have meaningfully responded to their respective socio-political situations gave scope for us to expand our visual sensibilities. It is on the basis of this exposure to world art that our attitude against decadence in art and resistance to it began to evolve,” says the manifesto.

Their ‘Questions and dialogues’ exhibition at the Kozhikode Town Hall was marked by public participation and shook the art world. At the Victoria Terminus railway station in Mumbai, they protested against the art auction planned by Sotheby’s in 1987, and campaigned against crass commercialisation.

But just when they were on the rise, they were cut short by internal contradictions and the untimely death of Krishnakumar at the age of 30. He committed suicide during an artists’ camp in 1989.

At the Kochi Muziris Biennale in 2012, the old radicals came together to remember their fallen comrade. Two of his sculptures were also put on display at the Durbar Hall, but only a few knew the tragic story behind it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by  S. R. Praveen / Thiruvananthapuram – July 16th, 2014

Renowned Malayalam filmmaker J. Sasikumar (86), who holds the record of making 141 films in his career spanning over three decades, died in Kochi on Thursday.

Renowned Malayalam filmmaker J. Sasikumar (86), who holds the record of making 141 films in his career spanning over three decades, died here on Thursday.

Born Nambiathuseril Varkey John in Alappuzha, Sasikumar was credited with having made the highest number of films with the same lead actor and same lead team, and the highest number of films in a year.

The director also holds the record of having worked with Prem Nazir, the late popular hero, in 84 films. Winner of the Kerala State government’s J.C.Daniel award for lifetime achievement in cinema for the year 2012, Sasikumar’s  first film Kudumbini hit the silver screen in 1964.

Some of his notable movies include Thommante Makkal, Love in Kerala and Choola. He had also acted in small roles in movies like Vishappinte Vili and Velakkaran before foraying in to direction.

Sasikumar had lived in Chennai for most of his life before shifting to Ernakulam  a year back. He is survived by two daughters.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – July 17th, 2014

Thiruvananthapuram :

A spellbinding graffiti standing out from the wall of a popular eating joint in the city, is sure to catch your eyes in a jiffy. This is just one of the many creative endeavours of ‘Wax Apple’ – an art band comprising six enthusiastic youths who are bent on making the city look better with their graffiti. This creative crowd is all set to bring an essential change to the Kerala’s art scene with their striking creations.

“If music bands can be popular, why not an art band on the same lines?” asks Pavi Shankar, the leader of the team. And the team says in unison, “We design ‘uppu thottu karppooram vare’ (from salt to camphor),” (a Malayalam saying to denote that they are ready to undertake any kind of creative work that comes their way).

From designing logos and brochures to illustrations, digital paintings, caricatures, graffiti, animation story boards, layout designs, ads and online promotion of short films, documentaries and many others, there is nothing this team has not touched upon in the creative field.

The team has Pavi, an illustrator; Sidharth Jagadeesh, a visual effects (VFX) and animation expert; Pradeesh Raj, an art director; Amala Tessa Johney, a content writer-cum-poet and Shyam Kundarthala, an actor and Adarsh, who does the marketing.

“Though we have assigned a post to each one of us, we help each other out and work as a team. We also co-ordinate with ‘Unplugged Expressions’, a group which brings out ‘Naadan Pattu’ (folk songs),” says Pavi.

Some of them have done courses related to the work they do in ‘Wax Apple’ while others have chased their dream and joined in later.

Pavi Shankar and Pradeesh passed out from the Fine Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram. Amala has done BVMC from Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram. Shyam Kundarthala is a degree student at Mar Ivanios, Adarsh is a BTech degree holder and Siddharth has done a number of animation courses. They have been working together for the past four years.

Wax apple proudly remembers the time when they could bring moments of joy to the lives of children at RCC. The team painted two halls of the RCC children’s ward with their favourite cartoon characters.

“We also did works for Helping Hands Organisation (H2O), which works with differently-abled children. We have worked in painting camps arranged by H2O where we helped the children create paintings,” says Pavi Shankar.

The team got an opportunity to create a graffiti during the celebrations to mark the 125th year of Govt Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram.

“Art works don’t get much appreciation in Thiruvananthapuram when compared to Kochi though many say that the capital city is the best place to live in,” says Pavi.

The team feels artists do not get a free place to do work in the capital city. “We are often shooed away by moral police at Kanakakkunnu. People come there for walks, dance practice, yoga etc but when we try to use the space for creating art works, it becomes a problem,” Pavi says.

Their graffiti work would be quite familiar to the regulars of many eateries in the capital city such as Cafe Tapas and Green Pepper. They also do graffiti on bikes.

About their future graffiti works they say they are looking forward to do a work depicting the tradition and culture of Kerala on the walls of the underpass in Palayam. “We are waiting for an approval from the authorities concerned for this.”

Apart from the graffiti, they also does publicity work for documentaries and short films.

“We have done the publicity designs for ‘Beyond’ a short film by Arun A R to be screened at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK),” the team says.

“We also did the publicity designs for Cologne, another short film to be screened at IDSFFK this time,” says Siddharth. They have also designed some cinematic T-shirts for the IDSFFK which they plan to sell at the fest. The team proudly say that they also got a chance to do a poster for the Ladakh International Film Festival.

“We have also done paintings for film director Aashiq Abu’s OPM Dream Mill production house,” says Pavi.

“Often we don’t get fully paid for the work. After the work gets finished, people forget to pay for the job done. Many of us come to this field out of genuine interest, quitting other jobs. But this is also our only means to survive. So it hurts when we are not paid for the work done,” says the youngsters.

“I’ve been working with Wax Apple since two years. I plan to take up a job and assist them side by side since this alone cannot be a source of proper income now,” says Amala.

The design of Kerala University youth fest logo was also done by ‘Wax apple’ this time.“We are also planning to conduct an exhibition of our paintings,” Pavi says cheerfully.

Recently, they did the cover page of ‘Being Moon on 31st Cross road’, a book by Praveen P Gopinath.

“We are now doing a logo for Kerala Water and Education,” gushes the group.

The group is also working on a short film based on the accident in which a school van fell into the Parvathi Puthanar. “Instead of the van, we are making use of a model auto in the short film. We have set up the model of an auto for the same,” Adarsh says.

“Apart from remuneration, we find joy and satisfaction in the work we do.”

Wax Apple can be contacted at 9746354747, 9037526608,9633214047 or their website visited at http://www.waxapple.in.

They also have an FB page: https://www.facebook.com/waxappleofficial.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Gouri Prasannan / July 16th, 2014

South Indian Urdu novelist Sulekha Hussain passed away at her residence at Vaduthala, near here, on Tuesday. She was 85. She is survived by a daughter.

Born in an affluent Katchi Memon family at Mattancherry in 1930, she lost her parents at a very young age and was brought up by her grandfather, Jani Sait, an Urdu poet. She did her primary education at the Mattancherry Asia Bahi madrasa and studied Urdu and Arabic.

It was with her husband’s patronage that she began writing. Sulekha penned 27 novels and many short stories, all in Urdu. Some of her novels, Rah Akeli, Dishvar Huva Jeena, Ek Khyab Hakhikhath, andMarla he Kali were widely read in several North Indian cities such as Lucknow, Allahabad, New Delhi and Pakistan. Her most famous novel, Tharikhion Ke Baad, was translated into Malayalam by K. Ravi Varma in the 1980s.

Considering her contributions to Urdu literature, she was nominated to the committee awarding fellowships in Urdu language by the Union Cultural Affairs Ministry in 2012. Her son, Faraqu, passed away in 2010.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – July 16th, 2014