Strokes of serenity

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On the occasion of Buddha Poornima, ‘Also 8 Boutique’ is hosting a solo painting exhibition of artist Kappari Kishan on the theme of Buddha. The exhibition was inaugurated by BV Papa Rao (IAS Rtd), Advisor to Government of Telangana. The exhibition features 15 paintings by the self-taught, Hyderabad-based artist.

Kappari Kishan completed his BSC and MFA in arts from Karnataka University. Since 1993 he is working as an art instructor and he also worked with senior artist Thota Vaikuntam. He is in this field since 25 years and from 2007 he started displaying his works in various exhibitions across the nation.

About his artworks he said, “When I was working with Vaikuntam and at that time he did many paintings on Telangana women. And I got inspired with his and started copying his paintings. One day he approached me and asked me to not to copy paintings of artists and stated that I have talent and I should make my creations. Subsequently, I started observing the colourful sarees of women and their long hair. And I started drawing on it. I tried to depict the Indian women in my paintings.”

Taking us through the works, Kappari discusses his inspiration in Buddha. “From five to six years I am working on Buddha Poornima because I was interested in reading philosophy books of Buddha, and my main aim was to follow Buddhism. It taught me a peaceful method of living. When we here the name ‘Buddha’, we think about peace, irrespective of the religion that we come from. I want to promote peace and also Buddhism, is very important for today’s generations. So in one of the paintings, I focused only on his face, and also used many symbols such as lotus, endless knots, dharmachakras and animals in the background, etc.”

Speaking about one of his paintings he shared, “Here, I am trying to feature human and Buddha in one painting. The woman in the painting is a Buddha devotee. Sometimes she does paintings of Buddha and sometimes she prays.” About his mediums, he said, “I used acrylic colours, acrylic on handmade paper, oil, wood, and abstract forms.

The painting of lotus with Buddha is in semi-abstract form as in my earlier exhibitions I got a feedback stating that people are getting bored by seeing so many paintings of Buddha, so I am trying different abstract forms to grab more attention and make it a good experience for art aficionados.”

What: Buddha Poornima
When: until May 20 between 11am and 7.30pm
Where: Also 8, Banjara Hills

By Heena Mishra