Under-40 artists shine

CHENNAI: The concept of ‘survival of the fittest’ is becoming more and more relevant today. How one adapts to a particular situation is what plays an important role in that person surviving. This is what comes to the fore through K R Aneesh’s painting Adaptation according to the situation. The painting, which is part of the Regional Art Exhibition, 2012 at the Lalit Kala Akademi, is a four-frame sequential representation of what the artist calls “a metaphor on how people adapt themselves to various situations.” The C Type print on vinyl illustrates how a tiny plant, within a box, slowly progresses towards sunlight.A certain sense of escalation is also provided by the articulate set of paintings.Apart from Aneesh, 60 other artists from various states of Southern India are part of the exhibition, which was inaugurated on Friday. Artists from Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and even Goa and Maharashtra are actively taking part in this exhibition.A vast majority of the artists are of 40 years of age and below.The exhibition was inaugurated by senior artists from the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, along with Sobha Nambisan, a 1976-batch IAS officer, who is currently the director of the Bangalore chapter of National Gallery of Modern Arts.Some of the other paintings on display include Shivanand Basavanthappa’s 2011 painting Elephant Farm (Acrylic on canvas), D M Pradeep Kumar’s Adolescent Game (Pen on fabriano paper) and C P Krishnapriya’s My Head is a Little Interior of Grey Mirrors. A must mention is V G Urmila’s Use Me, an acrylic and printing ink on board painting. This work depicted a rabbit-shaped dustbin, in bright yellows, oranges and greens, that were a fine contrast to the deep black background.The exhibition is on till March 3 at the Lalit Kala Akademi on Greams Road.