Page 12 - Anjolie Ela Menon - Inner Vision

photographs mimic the look of paintings, the and until the end of the 1960s, there was a marked Used as both an ‘objet trouvé’ and a recurring wooden frames used in houses to frame pictures.
paintings seem like photographs. The massive difference in the way the artist treated her motif in her paintings, the window holds great In Menon’s case, they would house her paintings.
project took over two years to complete. paintings. They were dominated by a blue mist significance for the artist. While the discovery of Many of her paintings would feature women
Unfortunately, photographer Beeche passed away created by layering translucent shades of colour. using the window as part of a mixed media work depicted trapped within these enclosed spaces,
after her battle with cancer before the mural was The nudes of this time and the beginning of the was accidental, this has become a signature for onlookers to the outside world. Naukhanas are
unveiled. 1970s - a complete contrast from what she would Menon, with the subjects being spotted within the compartmented windows split into nine grids. The
create later on in life - were serene and genial frame of the window staring out into the world. work ‘Kellengode’ from 1986, inspired by the small
After a short span of time spent living in England, looking. The settings were often Utopian gardens, ‘Window’ from the year 1982 depicts a woman town of Kerala she visited on her travels, is an
the artist returned again to India in 1966 when she and the women were sensuous yet innocent. She peering out of its panels, with a bird perched in one important piece from this time.
was commissioned to do a portrait for Indira painted her translation of the Bangladesh war in of its panes. The window in her works helps
Gandhi which, much like the artist herself, was 1971 in the form of six paintings, all depicting skulls audiences peek into the myriad lives that she Although beautiful in its result, the detailed
unconventional, to say the least. Her second and bones with flowers sprouting from them. paints - the sex workers of Kamathipura being ornateness did not suit the artist and was quickly
rendition of Indira Gandhi was executed by the These symbolised a gruesome rebirth for the some of them. abandoned for a unique take on her works. Menon
artist only a month before her assassination. The country after much bloodshed and loss. would deconstruct her paintings into grid-like
then Prime Minister, seen with hollow eyes, was This also led her to work with jharokhas and structures, cutting them up only to reconstruct
depicted behind a window with shattered panes. The mid-1970s brought with it a large exhibition at naukhanas. Jharokhas, a form of jutting stone them as she saw fit. This visual play on the artwork
Chemould Gallery in 1976 that saw the artist come windows and concealed balconies often seen in would give a fresh, innovative perspective unlike
The portrait is one of the foundations of Anjolie’s into her own. The colour palette became bolder, palaces in Rajasthan, went on to inspire decorative any other she had done before.
works, with over 200 portraits to her name. She and so did the nudes she painted. A patina
began portraiture even in school, making a portrait inspired by Renaissance paintings achieved
of her mother Eunice, who passed soon after. Her through a technique unique to her was evident in
works documented people she came upon during all her works at this cathartic showing. While her
her travels through the world, mythological figures, paintings remained sensual, the gloom too, was
public figures, and members of her family. These noticeable in the subjects ranging from ropes and
works, evolving through her illustrious career, still dilapidated chairs to crows and lizards. With the
remain with a common theme of melancholy and loss of her father in the same year, one could
explore the inner workings of the subject. notice the appearance of melancholic empty
chairs in her works.
Her various portraits over time chronicle her
evolution as an artist, enmeshing her personal The chairs would become a recurring motif for
experiences, techniques she’s learnt and Anjolie Menon, seeming to crop up in both
influences she’s gathered over time. A vast paintings and the objet trouvé art that she
majority of the works amalgamate the East and showcased in the future. In her paintings of the
the West, bringing together, Western learnings with object, the theme of disquiet from a missing entity
Indian aesthetics. is evident. Her chair paintings bring with them the
sense of having been previously occupied by
1966 was also a year of several important life someone who has only recently left the frame. The
events for Menon as her second son, Rajaraja, was subject matter can often be seen draped by a
born, and in quick succession, her grandmother blanket, surrounded by other objects that have
passed. The loss of her grandmother Ethel, become a mainstay in Menon’s paintings, like
someone who had been crucial in bringing her up crows and kites. The ability to interpret these
after the passing of Menon’s mother, was a huge works as the audience sees fit allows for the
blow. Motherhood has played a profound role in paintings to allude to stories beyond just the
the artist’s oeuvre, softening her works over time frame. Another interpretation of the chair that she
as she experienced motherhood. Mothers often focuses on is the dilapidated chair, nostalgic for
show up as protagonists in eminent series. objects that lay forgotten in corners of our house.
Many of these paintings are presented within
Anjolie Menon then moved again, with her dreamscapes, adding to the desolation of the
husband being posted to Vladivostok in the Soviet lonely chair. The mid-1970s also saw her focus her
Union between 1967 and 1969. Despite the attention on windows not only as part of her
stringent curtailment on artists and their work, she paintings but also using real window frames, using
was allowed to exhibit her works in an exhibition them to frame her subjects seen within peering
that, while not heavily advertised, was received outward. She would sometimes fragment the
with much awe and appreciation. During this time perspective into several parts.
Google image : Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine March 2016

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