Ganeshism 3 at the Barefoot Gallery
 Ganeshism 3 is a celebration of Lord Ganesh in art, through an
exhibition of paintings at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo,No.704, Galle
Road, Colombo - 3 from 10 am to 8pm on Weekdays and 11 am to 5pm on
Sundays until December 16. It is the third show of its kind since 2008
by Sri Lankan artist Mahen Chanmugam.
Mahen has been painting for over thirty-five years and has devoted
the last eighteen years to portraying Lord Ganesh. The paintings in this
year’s show are part of a collection that attempts to present, not only
the symbolism and iconography surrounding Lord Ganesh, but also the
artists view of the powerful energies that Lord Ganesh represents, in
the world around us, and within ourselves.
For Mahen Chanmugam painting Lord Ganesh, the deity with the elephant
head, is a personal journey that was inspired by his spiritual
connection to Lord Ganesh. In 1994, while working and living in
Singapore, Chanmugam began a study of the iconography and symbolism of
Lord Ganesh. He started exploring the classic forms, postures and the
iconographic principles of perfect poise within the 32 forms Lord Ganesh
appears in and translated these into contemporary representations.
The intensity of the search for new content in classic form has added
an intellectual ambivalence to his work.
Whereas the image topic is constant, the paintings now capture a
range of emotions and themes. Today his art looks at Lord Ganesh’s
iconography as a philosophical template that symbolizes liberation from
ego, acceptance and the laws of cause and effect. Paintings like the
Thousand Petaled Lotus of Light and Lord Ganesh with a Flute visualize
the deity as a force that enables consciousness to evolve from its
lowest to its highest. Deep, mesmerizing eyes gently look down from many
of his paintings, reflecting his inspiration of love and awe from a
single form that is so eloquently described in Progress of the soul by
John Donne: Nature’s great masterpiece, the elephant, the only harmless
great thing, the giant of the beasts.
Chanmugam has worked with all types of media, having mastered, then
abandoned, oil painting and airbrush illustration for the transluscent
brilliance of acrylic. He now works on materials as varied as canvas,
wood, glass and mirror and sometimes, even on rice bags and other
industrial packing material. He has had five solo exhibitions in
Singapore and Sri Lanka and he paints and lives with his wife, two
children and cats in his home studio, amongst the water monitors and
bats in Nawala.
 For further inquiries please contact BAREFOOT Gallery on Tel: 011
2505559,e-mail- [email protected] or on web -
www.barefootgallery.com |
