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Reinventing the classics

Some of the best art works adorn temple walls across our country. Out of these one of the most prominent tropes in art is the tradition of murals. The history of the mural painting tradition of Kerala goes back to the 8-9 century AD. The linear quality of the murals in Tirunandikkara temple in the southern part of Kerala (Chera at that time) showed a distinctive character that could be termed as ‘Kerala idiom’ though one could relate it to the common southern heritage. 

The iconic beauty delineated in linear rhythm with just five colours (Pancha Varna formula) and the fine modeling of figures with perfect mastery over tonal gradations kept the compositions unique. 
As a part Renaissance of Kerala during the century all the neglected art forms got a new source of energy and the mural 20 tradition also attracted the people like Ananda  Coomaraswami, Stella Kramrisch and others. 

Artist Sadaanandan, after his five year study under the master artist Mammiyur Krishnankutty Nair, started as a free lance artist who carved a niche for himself with his identifiable unique style and thematic selection. He presents his stock of some classic works of art in the Capital. 

His infatuation with nature demanded such a luminosity that could encode the spirit of intuitive relation he has with it. The classical literature of India gives artists of imagination a lot of chances to find out new compositions; and Sadaanandan with his master brush works has captured the spirit of Sakuntalam and Ritusamhara by Kalidasa. 

The acquired knowledge of the miniature tradition of India helped him a lot to create a world of expression mixed with the Kerala idiom.
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