CHENNAI: Agroup of young artists, all alumni of the Government College of Fine Arts, are coming together under the collective Continuum to present their first exhibition, Between Becoming & Being, from May 15 onwards at Lalit Kala Akademi.
Initiated by artist couple Preethi Umapathy and Prithiviraj, the collective brings together nine artists working across painting, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics.
The exhibition will feature works by Deepika, Ganesh, Jagath Ravi, Padmapriya, Prithiviraj, Preethi, Ramesh, Saran Mathi, and Sarath Kumar, with each artist reflecting on themes of identity, aspiration, human existence, and lived experiences through their practice.
“All of us are working professionals, but we continue our art practice during our free time. Some work with paintings, some with printmaking, ceramic works, and stone sculptures. This is the first time all nine of us are showing together in one space,” says Preethi.
According to her, the exhibition grew out of conversations around human existence and the experiences that shape individuals over time. “What we consume and experience in life is what eventually reflects in our work. We are all trying to find our own niche as artists.
Everyone is aspiring towards something bigger, and this exhibition feels like the first step towards that,” adds the artist. For Prithiviraj, Tamil text serves as an important visual language in his work.
Drawn to the beauty and rhythm of Tamil script, he uses text in mixed-media pieces that explore both language and emotion. “I’m interested in how Tamil words can be seen and felt, not just read. It has a strong visual quality,” he says.
One of his works uses the Tamil character ‘akku’ (Aayutha Ezhuthu), in which words are written in a spiral within its three dots. “Another work of mine explores the word Mannithal (forgiveness), where the word is broken into parts while the word ‘revenge” is juxtaposed within it,” he adds.