Artists on a mission to make Kerala mural paintings popular in Kudla

MANGALURU: When adorning the walls of corporate offices and houses with Kerala mural paintings is becoming a new trend, a group of artists from the 'God's Own Country' have arrived in Kudla to make the trend popular in this part of Karnataka too.
Kerala mural paintings depicting Hindu mythology and legends can be seen on the walls of ancient temples and churches in Kerala. In an effort to make the art popular in Mangaluru, Vara Group, a group of artists from Kasaragod, have organized a mural painting exhibition at Prasad Art Gallery on Sunday and Monday.
A total of 16 traditional Kerala mural paintings created by nine artists – Prakash V K, Gireesh O V, Ajitha Santhosh, Subhash Madikai, Seetha Mohan, Priya K, Pushpalatha V K, Rashmi P and Sheena A K were displayed. International mural artist and Kerala government’s Kshethra Kala Award 2019 winner Biju Panappuzha inaugurated the exhibition.
Artist Prakash told TOI that hanging a Kerala mural painting is a new trend in Kerala and other parts of the nation. “People have started buying Kerala mural paintings depicting Hindu mythology to gift them for house warming and other ceremonies. Meanwhile, using Kerala mural paintings also has become a part of the interior decorations in corporate offices and other buildings. Our objective is to popularize the Kerala mural paintings in this coastal city too,” Prakash said.
On the paintings he said, “though Kerala mural paintings were created using natural colours centuries ago, we have been trying to replicate it using the acrylic paints on canvas.”
Kerala mural paintings can be seen on the walls of several ancient temples including Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Ananthapuram Temple in Kasaragod and Guruvayoor Temple, he added.