Colours of Telangana

While some artists have addressed themes like mythology,flora,fauna and the strong rural background that characterises the art of Telangana,none of them has commented on the political hotbed that the region is. Not only does Telangana hold a hope to be a separate state,it also deals with persistent Naxalite insurgency.

But the artists of Telangana focus on aesthetic issues and foreground the beauty of the rural woman in works titled Yaadi and Telangana Women. “My work deals with identity and memory and focuses on the rural woman. In Telangana,it was the rural woman who led the arms struggle and she is a very strong figure for Leftist ideas,” says Aelay,a fourth generation artist from the Telangana school of painting that began in the 1930s with pioneers like PT Reddy and K Sheeshgiri Rao. “When I began painting 15 years ago,the images were from my native place. The festival of the live goddess is my signature style and,while I try to do experimental work,this is what captures the flavour of rural India,” adds the 36-year-old Aelay.

The curator of the exhibition,B Narasinga Rao,comments that this exhibition endeavours to capture the art of four generations of painters. “There was a Telangana movement in 1969 when five artists did a fundraiser show for the people who had died in the violence,but that is not the concern of this exhibition. What we aim to showcase is four generations of artists through 60 years of art—from

post-independence to 2010. While Laxma Goud’s generation began painting in the 1930s,Laxman Aelay represents the fourth generation whose art springs from a local position in a globalised world,” says Rao.

He point outs that there is a wide range of art by each artist but in the Metros,only the popular aspects of their work are generally showcased. “ Vaikuntam,for instance,began with erotic nudes,moved on to landscapes and only recently began painting the rural women of Telangana. There are other artists like Usman Siddiqui,one of the best sculptors in Hyderabad,whose work is rarely seen outside his native Andhra Pradesh,” he says.

Laxma Goud,whose work has been sourced from a collector for this exhibition,says,“Since my work has been sourced,I have no ideological commitments to this show. Anyway,I am against politicising my art.”