Manohar Chiluveru is a man on a mission — to turn art into a collaborative venture, breaking away from the usual image of the artist as an introverted soul working alone somewhere in a closed space. His brainchild, Kriyaism, in collaboration with Alliance Française, Hyderabad, demonstrated the ‘synergy’ that can be created by bringing together 15 local artists who participated in a collective painting event on Sunday.
Their work will be on view at Alliance Francaise till March 8. The event was also an ‘art camp’ of sorts that invited noted guests like Raj Kandukuri, Kamal Kamaraju, Prema Malini, Sasha Singh, Ramesh Samala, Dulam Satyanarayana and Ajith Nag, to try their hand at painting. Manohar’s mantra is simple — until you splash the colours on the canvas, you wouldn’t know about the worlds in your head that you can explore.
Collaborative dream
Manohar, who is also a sculptor, wants to give back to the community of artists and Kriyaism is a small part of his much bigger collaborative dream, ‘Odyssey’, an International Travel Art and Book Project where he intends to build a global art network to celebrate culture diversity. While Kriyaism is specific to Hyderabad, Odyssey will take Manohar to 24 cities, noted for their art, from around the world, where he will indulge in developing one 12 X 30 feet canvas per city, to recreate its ethos.
Through this series, Manohar intends to bring to life the zeitgeist of the art scene while using this opportunity to collaborate with artists from around the world, exchange ideas around the dichotomy of separation and continuity, and finally, publish an art book — a comprehensive volume of creativity that would cover diverse geographies, histories, social issues, and artistic expressions.
As part of the project, Manohar would also work around building a creative professional network of curators, artists and policy makers, that can help the budding artists find a platform for their voice. Rome is the next big city on Manohar’s itinerary.
Speaking of Kriyaism, Ajith Nag, a filmmaker, who participated in the event on Sunday, said it brought out the child in him. As someone who has never painted with any degree of seriousness, Ajith felt painting could be a stress-buster that he can definitely take up, thanks to the reminder he received through this event. Krishna Reddy, a visual artist who teaches Fine Arts, one of the 15 artists participating in Kriyaism felt that sharing of ideas leads to more positive creation, whether it is image-building, textures or expressions. He was particularly enthused about collaboration with younger artists of the city. Those included seven members of the YAAG group, Fine Arts graduates from Hyderabad who focus on using canvas to depict social issues and urbanisation. They felt that these are good times for young artists who are finding acknowledgement for their modern-art themes.
Manohar intends to conduct more of these art camps in Hyderabad. Actort and architect Kamal Kamaraju said he was impressed with Manohar’s advice to non-painters participating in the camp, which was to treat it like a dynamic event where the idea was taking shape right in front of your eyes, if one could keep an open mind.
Film producer Raj Kandukuri felt Manohar’s style of teaching even a non-painter how to bring out the ideas in his or her mind as a splash of colours, was educative and insightful.
Manohar, who hails from Warangal, and is inspired by Kakatiya temples as much as the works of Picasso, has explored through paintings and sculptures a plethora of styles and techniques. He wants to ‘invest’ in art so that the next generation of artists from India, find a more suitable medium. The art book would be one such, but not the only one.