Chennai-based art gallery to display watercolour artist’s works

CHENNAI: Vennba Art Gallery in T Nagar is organising ‘Kaivalya’, a solo show by watercolour artist Shyam Karri on November 19. On the day of the show, Shyam will demonstrate how he re-imagines splashes of paint and directs the strokes of his brush for the desired outcome.

Shyam Karri is a 32-year-old watercolour artist and architect from Telangana who believes that art should be free-flowing like water and should not be controlled and restricted; it should run free and wild on the canvas.

Having lost his passion for painting, which began in school, to his job as an architect, in 2017 Shyam was reunited with his art. “As much as I appreciate architecture for the diverse mediums it possesses and the nature of it being able to coexist with several other subjects like history, psychology, and art itself; I wanted to explore more of art.

“I didn’t have the freedom to let my mind run wild with a particular design and the time constraint that came with it was a put-off. I quit my job and picked up where I left my art,” he smiles.

Shyam’s unique style of letting the water and canvas decide paint patterns and splashes and then manipulating them to create something out of it is more than just rationale. “In 2017, I went to Bodhi Zendo in Kodaikanal. It is a place where people come to stay and do their favourite activities in silence while also meditating. So, one day I was just painting in my room and the bell rang for meditation. So I randomly just splashed paint and stroked the brush on the canvas and just left.

“When I returned I was so mesmerised to see how the water had dried out and created a pattern and texture on its own. Since then I started experimenting with this medium and never tried controlling water or its direction, rather worked my way around it,” he adds.

Opening up on why he chose to name the art show ‘Kaivalya’ he says, “To me, an image is not about how it looks. It needn’t look great or even have the wow factor. It should be able to draw emotion out of people when they look at it. For me, the essence of the image is more important. I try to extract the essence and paint only the essence and kaivalya means essence.”

Talking about what he is looking forward to from the show he says, “What I love is that everyone has a story- they look at my work and they see something different that appeals to them. I’m looking forward to hearing their stories about my work.”

The art will be on display till November 30 from 10 am to 7 pm at Vennba Art Gallery.