My interaction with art in its true form

It was a perfect winter morning. The light yellow early rays of the sun brought some relief to the goose bumps in my hands. I entered the place with a lot of preconceived notions in my mind. What i saw there was a difference i dint quiet expect.

I got out of the auto right in front of the Chitrakala parishad. To my right were two students busily discussing something. As i walked inside, the girl got up and walked into the campus. Her friend screamed out to her " All the best daa, copy well, dont get caught, ha ha ha". Usual college talk.
I walked through the shaded green pathway looking to find the gallery. I found loads of students all across the steps, the pavement, benches;busy with books, pulling each others legs and sharing jokes. It was a great place to just sit and watch around till the gallery opened. Students kept walking in and out of that place, there was this buzz all around the place of exams and books though they were not so serious. I realized that everything about that place was very typical, something that would remind you of your college and exams. Yet, there was something different. Each one of them had something to convey, in the way they looked, they dressed, the bags they carried and the way they walked. They whole place was overwhelming with like minded people who were so expressive. Extermely subtle and captivating, exactly how any art form is.

I sat on the steps chatting with the security men around when i saw a middle aged man wearing a nice khadii kurta climb up the stairs towards the gallery. With the change in expression on faces of the security men i realised that he was the owner of the paintings which were on display that day. I smiled at him and he gave me a wide smile back with a handshake. "You have changed a lot , u look different" he said. "Im sorry sir, Im meeting you for the first time." I replied. "Oh, is it! ha ha ha.. i thought u were the student i met yesterday. U look similar to them." That was the normal naive attitude that Mr. Eby Joseph, carried with him. Extremely humble.

A walk around the gallery with him was like a sojourn to the interiors of kerala. Multiple shades of green was in prominence on his landscapes . Every painting was real. The thick forests of Waynade and Kumorakom with the early sun rays on the leaves could take the audience into the scene. There were also shots from cochin and a couple of scenes of Mr. Joseph's native. A conversation with him about each painting took me to notice the details and little nuances in them.



The paintings had a rough and a smooth part. The rough part was at the bottom of the canvas and formed the land or the leaves on the floor in this case. They could cause an optical illusion to the viewer. When viewed from far they looked like leaves and land and when viewed standing close to the paining they seemed like strokes of colour. It was phenomenal. A time to explore for me. I kept moving back and forth to look at those paintings and was spell bound. A small stroke of yellow colour from close looked like sunlight through the leaves when i looked from a distance. I was amazed by the magic his fingers could produce with simple combination of acrylic colours when intelligently combined. That was "Kerala Darshan", as put down by Mr. Eby N. Joseph.

An hour long journey in the interiors of kerala ended with a quick chat with Mr Joseph when he told me his plans about making a "Bharat Darshan". When he would give the feel of entire india as he had with this collection of Kerala. Soon after the conversation, i saw him searching his draw for something and he flipped out sheet of paper. He asked me to sit where i was and not move for sometime. The result of 15 minutes of concentrated viewing was a mind blowing sketch of me that Mr Joseph made.

I was delighted! He gave me his comments book where i genuienly poured out my feelings at that moment. I thanked him and promising to visit his gallery in kannur soon i bid adieu.

Update: Here is the sketch that he did, of mine :)