Kerala celebrated Raja Ravi Varma’s 167th birth
anniversary recently. Organized by the Lalitha Kala Akademi in Kerala at Ravi
Varma’s birth place, Kilimanoor in North East of Trivandrum District, in the
newly inaugurated Art Gallery, there were more political speeches than
scholarly re-inventing of Ravi Varma for the posterity. In the social
networking sites, I happened to see that one of the famous auction houses
predicts a hike on the prices of Ravi Varma’s works. It has been doing the
rounds for a long time; the rarer the works the dearer the prices. Ravi Varma
is a vintage item not only in his works but also in legends pertaining to him.
But vintage things are static too; they remain the same, exuding the
beauty across the audience but leaving nothing to wonder because the legends
remain the same. To make the vintage into contemporary, you need more than
political will and political speeches. It needs creative art history with a lot
of imaginative historians working around the legend. Ravi Varma’s detractors
are his own sycophants. They repeat the same intellectually polished romantic
renditions around Ravi Varma’s art and life, making him more and more a dead
artist than a historical artist who could live through generations through
constant memory making.
(display hall at the RRMM)
Raja Ravi Varma must be turning in his grave. That was exactly what I felt when I reached Kilimanoor on a hot afternoon. I asked the
private bus conductor where the gallery was. He asked a few other people to
finally tell me that it was somewhere. He promised to drop me there at the gate
itself. He qualified the place as where some ‘sculptures’ were kept. I had seen
a newspaper report that detailed the presence of sculptures in the gallery
compound and ever since I was curious about them. The gallery is built in a
1.66 acre property which has two undulating decks. On the first deck we have
this gallery, done typically in Kerala traditional architecture style. Before I
could attend to the details of this architectural wonder, I thought of going
inside the gallery and see the works of Raja Ravi Varma. I should say I was
deeply disappointed. If Ravi Varma had come with me, he would have broken down
instantly not only out of grief but also of shame.
(Sita Andardhaanam- Sita goes into the earth- another 'high quality' print in the museum)
This Ravi Varma Memorial Art Gallery, which was inaugurated
by the present cultural minister Mr.K.C.Joseph (Congress) and amply helped in
making by the current MLA, Mr.B.Satyan (CPM) on 29th November 2014,
is a disaster artistically and architecturally. Lalitha Kala Akademy claims
that forty ‘high quality’ prints of Ravi Varma’s oil paintings and oleographs
are displayed for aesthetic enjoyment. The very first sight of one of the works
presented at the beginning of the gallery was so insulting to the memory of the
artist that the ‘high quality’ prints had not even gone through proper color
correction. The frames are expensive and the printing is done cheaply. I am not
an expert in printing. But I can say for sure that these are below average
prints and something has gone terribly wrong in the tendering, vendor-ing,
executing and displaying. One could feel like asking any expert in printing
where exactly the print job has gone wrong. Is it in getting the right printer
or in the shoddy dealing? I am sure my dear friends, Kaattoor Narayana Pillai
who is the chairman of the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademy, Vaikom M.K.Shibu,
secretary of the Lalitha Kala Akademy and Mr. Francis (who was the Chairman
when this job was commissioned) would give me an answer to these questions.
(The Ravi Varma Museum/Gallery building)
The gallery strangely resembles the Guild Gallery in Alibaug
near Mumbai. The spatial arrangement is more or less the same but the
difference is while the Guild Gallery showcases the works of the contemporary
artists with studied care and lighting, here in Ravi Varma Memorial Gallery in
Kilimanoor, the poor quality prints are mounted in ‘wonderful’ frames and
displayed without considering any chronology or curatorial discretion. One may
wonder why, Lalitha Kala Akademy and the cultural department of Kerala is so
callous in executing something which could have been a permanent tourist
attraction and a historical centre as Ravi Varma’s birth palace is a few paces
away from this memorial gallery. While asking around, I got the feeling that
the Ravi Varma family is not that impressed by the job that the LKA has done.
But there is not even a complaint book to register my complaint.
The architecture is another disaster. The building and the
development of the premises is said to have incurred an expenditure of Rs.1.37
Crore so far. The architecture is done, as I said before in typical Kerala
style and is designed and created by one of the famous ‘low cost’ architectural
firms, namely Habitat led by a highly reputed architect G.Shankar. This
architect is famous for his environmental friendly green architecture. But I
want to ask Mr. Shankar what he has exactly done to this building. The building
has a tin roof which is covered with a rubberized asbestos tiles which provides
insulation and a cover at once. One may wonder is this how one reputed
architect envisions a museum which is supposed to house the internationally reputed
art works? Or did he think that the museum is going to house only prints of
Ravi Varma and those prints need only a decorative shed? Mr.Shankar should give
an answer to these questions. If I go by the Arnab Goswami way, the Nation
demands an answer from you Mr.Shankar.
(Shilpi Rajan made this Ravi Varma portrait in cement. I am not going to believe it is Ravi Varma)
I could see around ten sculptures in the museum premises.
P.S.Rajan, who is known as Shilpi Rajan has created a portrait of Raja Ravi
Varma in cement. One of the journalists asked him what he was thinking when he
was making a ‘kshatriya’ artist’s portrait. The question came from the fact
that the sculptor hails from a backward caste. His answer was simple: I am a
sculptor, I saw sculpture Ravi Varma in my mind.’ I was curious to see the
sculpture and I have to register my protest here, with all due respect to the
sculptor that it is not a sculptural portrait at all. By making this sculpture
the sculptor has demeaned the image of Ravi Varma that millions of people carry
in their mind. But Rajan could escape from this situation only by quoting Sree
Narayana Guru, who while consecrating a Shiva idol in a temple told the
opponents that he was consecrating an Ezhava Shiva (a backward caste Shiv).
Rajan could say that it is a Dalit Ravi Varma and make his way out of the
possible controversy. But I am sure there would be no controversy as not many
are hugely interested.
(Valsan Kolleri's sculpture)
Out of the sculptures I could see the works of Onix Paulose,
Augustine Verghese, Saju Mannathur, Rajan PS, Jyotilal T.G, Jayan AK,
Sudhakaran NK, Sanu VR, Raveendran MV and Valsan Koorma Kolleri. The parameter
for selecting the sculptors to work here was that they should be an Academy
Award winner. If so the works of Valsan Koorma Kolleri and Saju Mannthur stand
distinct for different reasons. Valsan’s abstract work evokes curiosity about
its form and stature. Saju Mannathur is a trained mural painter and his
sculpture is the portrait of Nala from Nalacharita, which is quite impressive.
An acclaimed sculptor like Jyotilal T.G does not seem to have done justice. The
other works may be good, but they do not stand a chance within Ravi Varma’s
vicinity. The nation asks another question; Why did the Akademy refuse to make
any consultation with acclaimed artists and art historians?
(Work by Saju Mannathur)
Ministers and MLAs speak of the possibility of this place
becoming an international heritage centre. Whenever there is a mention of the
word international, I feel like checking the lavatories there. I went there and
the scene I saw there was appalling. For the whole 1.66 acre of land and
buildings, there is only one toilet, which is made along with the green room of
an amphi-theatre. It is gloriously dirty and the door is without a latch. I
think G.Shankar, the architect should explain this also. Or does Kerala deserve only this much?
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