Ways of Impressing Painting

Kerala-based contemporary artist, Pradeep Puthoors art is dedicated to a fantastical world that is entirely his own. Strange creatures and imaginatively designed buildings and structures, colourful and playful, clutter his canvas. It was the high acclaim he received for his art that convinced the artist that his work had a value for others as well as himself. In 1992, at the age of 27, Puthoor received the Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi's first national award for a painting titled 'Air-Airy' (1992). A year later in 1993, the Human Resource Development Board for the Government of India gave him a Junior Research fellowship for painting. It was only then that he devoted himself to painting full time and gave up his day jobs. In 1997 he received the British Overseas League award for his work titled 'Mangled Mother' (1997)- now in the Singapore High Commissions collection in the UK. His art took a dramatic step forward after atrip to the UK where he was exposed to the work of the Old Masters and the thriving London art scene. In the following years his works received further critical praise and several awards including a fellowship from the prestigious Jackson Pollock Foundation in New York. Few know that Puthoor used to be an illustrator and graphic designer in Bombay who painted at night as his own private passion. Illustration is certainly no surprise when one looks at his art today. Many works demonstrate the distinctive look of this skilled artform: precise linear draughtsmanship and flat, bright, highly choreographed colour. In this recent set of paper works acquired by The Noble Sage one can see the most minute of lines kept consistent in density and clarity. The exactitude is quite breath-taking. Like the work of Ravi Shankar, a fellow Keralan artist, Puthoor shows us just what is capable with a pen and paper. Even more striking however is the sense of vitality he can bring to the image; each line seems animated leaving us unsure if we are the animators or if it is the gift of the artist. This idea of viewer participation is significant to his work. Puthoor says that his paintings lie in the middle of a reality and imagination. All the elements are woven together in a tapestry that reveals to us a composition of art that touches an onlooker psychologically and causes him to evolve, that in itself is as real as any experience. And that gives the paintings life. So the viewer in turn becomes as much a creator as the artist.