"An Inner Fire" Recent works of Yusuf Arakkal at Art Alive Gallery S-221, Panchsheel Park > 17th-31st January 2011

Time :
17th January : 6:00 pm - Opening
18th to 31st January : 11:00 am - 7:00 pm - Exhibition on View

Entry : Free

Place  : Art Alive Gallery S-221, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110017

Venue Info : www.artalivegallery.com | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Hauz Khas'
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Event Details : Art Alive Gallery presents 'An Inner Fire' Recent works of Yusuf Arakkal.

Abrupt and ardent Arakkals new works display the brilliance of a lightning flash, revealing, in a chance instance, fleeting glimpses of human faces. The faces rip through the often dense black background of his canvases like voices from the void, plangent in their intensity, resounding in their poignancy. These may all be termed portraits except they are created from memory. Arakkal insists that the use of models for the purpose is often restrictive. Relying on one’s memory on the other hand allows an artist the freedom and flexibility to traverse through time, selecting and discarding memories collected over the years. Unsurprisingly therefore many of his works echo his early sketches and portraits of young street children. Traces of various early 20th century films, especially child centric works, like those of the Italian Neo-realists and Satyajit Ray, are easily detectable. 

His obvious interest in cinematic techniques reflects also in the careful framing of his subjects. Arakkal concedes his intent to communicate through the precise presentation of his subjects. ‘I look very carefully and try to understand the way different directors frame their subjects in their films’ he admits ‘a single shot can change the entire mood of a scene or situation without a word having to be said’. His painstaking composition notwithstanding Arakkal’s works manages somehow to maintain an air of unrestrained abandon lending his images almost a documentative quality, reminiscent of photographs. And yet, unlike in direct photography there is obvious artistic discretion involved here. Hence the adult faces are rendered in oil, so as to suggest depth and density and maintain the compactness of the darkness around them. On the other hand the children are portrayed in watercolours, which help impart tenderness and a softer focus, particularly in the way they are contained within the box frames, often in the manner of miniature paintings, in a border of restless strokes and signs that are part of the Arakkal repertoire. 

Yusuf Arakkal’s life has been one of picaresque adventure, starting when he left his native Kerala and landed by chance in Bangalore in the search of a job, which he secured soon enough at the renowned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. However, as his urge to paint grew stronger than ever he quit to devote himself to his art entirely. Eager to train so as to express himself better he joined the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. Later, he also spent some time at Garhi, in New Delhi, as a graphic artist. Despite his relative success as a painter and the recognition which followed his headlong plunge into the art scene Arakkal never stopped training himself. Be it his interest in the works of other artists and his fervent deconstruction of them, image by image, in his own works (as in his series ‘Gujernica’. Painted after the Gujarat carnage) or through his acute engagement with world events, which led to works such as ‘Children of Conflict’, where he combined memories of past conflicts such as Vietnam and Biafra with recent incidents, Arakkal has managed to conserve his exuberant will to learn and expand his artistic prowess. This undying, unflinching spirit to see the world around him and seamlessly connect his canvases with his surroundings moulds his new collection, which, like all Arakkal shows, serves as an array of eye-opening surprises. 

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