7 December 2022
“Sreeja Pallam’s paintings are about ‘creating spaces’ for fellow beings—that’s awesome!”
VISAGE OF THE DAY – Solo Exhibition of paintings of renowned artist Sreeja Pallam is on show at Varija Gallery, Dakshina Chitra, Chennai from 4 December 2022 to 31 December 2022.
“Much of my paintings is an inquiry into what women are and where they are in modern male centric society. There are factors such as current family, power structure, resource ownership that exacerbate poverty and make women miserable. Therefore the fight for gender justice is important in the fight against poverty. Women who have overcome life’s crisis and found places to work, the series ‘The women in the working places’ is an inquiry into them. These paintings were included in the exhibition at Lokame Tharavad, Kochi Muziris Biennale and also in exhibition at LadoSarai, New Delhi,” says Sreeja Pallam, the artist who has been painting on canvas as a platform to express her passions, protest as well as an inquiry into the lives of women in a male-dominated society.
“Sreeja Pallam is one of India’s most vibrant female artists. The difference between Georgia O’Keeffe and Sreeja is that Sreeja’s world on her canvas has limited space, but unlimited life lives and moves on it. The artist helps various beings’ lives by creating ‘spaces’ for them, such as clouds for birds, etc.; possibly those have lost their habitats. Here, Sreeja intentionally transforms herself into a mother to look after such birds and animals, and she pedals children for education and moral support for ordinary workers to keep their spirits up.
Sreeja believes that all spaces should be reclaimed from where they were previously lost or invaded and shared with all beings while ensuring their safety and giving them unconditional care and love.
Sreeja’s paintings are about ‘creating spaces’ for fellow beings—that’s awesome!” the world renowned artist E.H Pushkin said.
“Space is boundless, and you can’t imagine nor limit it. It spreads beyond your whereabouts and dreams to everything: your art, your contemplations, your beliefs, and all the definitions you’ve kept hidden inside your wits about things that came and went, crossed over, or are still on your voyage. In life, you are intentionally forced to occupy a limited space. There, you are trying to build your career, your thoughts, and sometimes your entire life, carefully and peacefully.
You have no hatred or disappointment toward anyone or anything in your life, but you are serenely attempting to exist and co-exist with some other greater beings, and most of them are kind and frail, and some are tragically treacherous towards you and your fellow feeble beings because those are governing the ‘spaces,’ but you are usually not concerned because you know that existence is a forced contempt and you are translating that reality into art or other kinds of expression”.
Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my favorite female painters of all time because her creation of unbounded spaces is extraordinary. Even if her canvases are bounded by edges or limits, and we are free from traditions created by theories and gracious viewers’ ‘experiences’, our perceptions will be tuned to feel that O’Keeffe’s imagery flows beyond limits,” renowned artist E.H.Pushkin shares his thought on the eminent American modernist artist, O’Keeffe who was called the ‘Mother of American modernism’.
