Cacophony of Colours

E.H. Pushkins paintings are a cacophony of colours and multiple layers.

E.H. Pushkins paintings are a cacophony of colours and multiple layers. The NIV Art Centre at Neb Sarai is showcasing the Malayali artists second solo exhibition in the city,Art is a Being of Compound Behaviours. The works range from abstract interpretations of mechanised life to paintings of installations.

Pushkin,53,was one of the founding members of the Radical Painters and Sculptures Association,a Baroda-based group that believed in Marxist ideology and blossomed in the 1980s.

It had members like Alex Mathew and Anita Dube. However,the group disbanded when KP Krishnakumar committed suicide.

This show has 50 paintings rendered in acrylic. Though he has been tagged a Surrealist,Pushkin claims not to follow any school of thought: Ive only used colours and a brush. Theres no technique that I follow,and everything I know,Ive learnt through experience. For over a decade,he has worked as a volunteer with organisations related to rehabilitation of animals from trafficking and confinement; and the suite of paintings,Transparency of a Walking Cat,reflects his fondness for animals as does the recurring imagery of strange imaginary beasts.

Another suite consists of fine line drawings. Though there is an uncanny similarity between the protagonist and the painter in most of his works,he insists that the mustachioed man wrestling with life is not necessarily a self-portrait. It could be any human being,hes just a generic figure, says Pushkin. The critique of media emerges in works like Making Media According to¿ where the silhouette of a television set in hues of bloody red is precariously balanced on two tree stumps.

The show is on at the NIV Centre,210 Neb Sarai,near IGNOU,till May 30. Contact: 9810278802

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