Born in 1958, Devan Madangarly is an artist based in Kerala. He did his foundation course in drawing and painting from Kanoria Centre for Arts in 1990-91. He has had five solo shows. His first solo show was at Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad in 1991. The second in Kochi at Durbar Hall Art Gallery with Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in 2001. His third solo show was at Thrissur by Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in 2007, fourth in Bangalore with Sara Arakkal Art Gallery in 2011 and fifth at Palakkad Art Gallery, Palakkad in 2013.
He has participated in many group shows including, ‘All India Exhibition of Drawings’ in Rajasthan Lalitakala Akademi, Jaipur-1998, ‘Eye of the South’ a group exhibition at Cymroza art gallery, Mumbai in 2000, all annual shows from 2004 to 2015 with Sara Arakkal Art Gallery in Bangalore, ‘PRANAVAM’ a group exhibition with New Mahe Malayala Kalagramam, in Bangalore-2005, ‘Group Eight' a show at AIFACS art gallery, New Delhi in 2008, ‘Landscapes, Metaphors' a two men show at Arpana Art Gallery, New Delhi in 2010, ‘DISTANT and PERSONAL' a group show at Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery, Kozhikode in 2019.
Devan has participated in many artist residencies and artists camps with Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and with other private galleries. He has won an Honourable Mention Award for Drawing in 1998-99 from Kerala Lalithakala Akademi.
His paintings are from his own personal experiences that have a direct bearing on him. All the works are outflows of his thought processes. He is a dreamer, a storyteller through his paintings, and a writer. There is life and death in his works. His style is realistic with a pinch of surrealism. His works have some influences from Kerala traditional mural paintings and North Indian miniature paintings.
Devan Madangarly
Works: Green Fish in the Green Water - Series
Devan Madangarly is paired with Namratha Varadharajan. To read the poem "The Hug of the Green" that was inspired by this series, visit Namratha.
Artist Statement:
Remembering experiences is a pain. Painting is another pain. In Sachidanandan's (one of the poets in Kerala) poem, ‘Vritham’; it says; “Then you will know between the two pains, happiness is a narrow space”. This is the situation after the painting - Happiness. It is only for a minute of time.
My paintings are based on my experiences and dreams. Sometimes there is only one painting. Sometimes more than one at a time. First, I bring my experiences and dreams onto the paper or canvas. I make some changes later while drawing. It takes more time to paint a picture.
This series of paintings that I am currently working on is also a combination of many experiences and dreams. These paintings, from the series, ‘Green Fish in the Green Water' is an extension of the memories of some of the sketches made many years ago. When I reached home in the evening during school days, I had to take a bath before entering the home and eat. I stayed a while on the stone steps of the home pool, with a sigh of relief. Looking at the water where so many fish played quenched the hunger and I unknowingly climbed into the world of stories. I put the memories of some of those days onto pictures. You can see me in those paintings making friends with the fish and slowly getting into their world with them.
Let me tell you more about the paintings, I am doing now. The paintings are all made as a series. It can also be called a narrative style. I have applied a realistic treatment in the paintings.
In the first painting, the fish is drawn on paper and brought to life and released into a bowl of water. By the time we got to the second painting, the number of fish had increased. But in the next painting, only one fish becomes a friend. In the latter painting, it is released into the water and the artist sits on the shore of the pond. And in the last painting, he is standing in the water with his waist down and engaged in a silent conversation with the fish.
I remember Devan Sir inviting me to Ahalia Heritage Village
in Palakkad (my home town) and showing me around when I wanted to write about
the idyllic place on my blog that very few people knew of. He was generous and
that stayed with me. An amazing person, he is a self-taught artist who follows
the nuances of miniature tradition on both large and small-scale formats. He is
a biker too; once when I was travelling from Shoranur to Palakkad, I came
across a billboard with Sir posing in front of his bike in an advertisement!! The
very first time I read Namratha’s poem, I had gooseflesh and I kept returning
to NamySaysSo, her blog, to re-read. Namratha is a mixture of sweet and
intense, soft-spoken, every word she speaks is so precise, legible and clear. I
hear she is quite a dancer too!! I love the details into which she moves with
such ease in her poetry. It’s subtle and refined and a lot relatable. Her poems
play with the nuances of observation and she firmly possesses that skill which
matches excellently with Sir’s analysis of his ‘world’ and experimentation.
Devan Madangarly is always in charge of all Artist Camps happening at Ahalia Heritage Village .. From the very beginning.. A highly talented and gifted Artist and an art critic also ..
Devan Madangarly is always in charge of all Artist Camps happening at Ahalia Heritage Village ..
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning..
A highly talented and gifted Artist and an art critic also ..