K.R. Babu (b.1966, Kerala), an alumnus of the first batch of Institute of Mural Painting, Guruvayoor, is a specialist on the innate traditions, aesthetics, iconography and techniques of the Kerala Murals. He is a disciple of the renowned mural maestro, Late Shri Mammiyoor Krishnankutty Nair. K.R. Babu is currently working as a Lecturer in the Department of Mural Painting at Mahi Malayala Kala Gramam – an acclaimed centre for promotion and preservation of art and culture in South India.
K.R. Babu lives in Thiruvambadi at Kozhikode district of Kerala, which has a long tradition of folklore and folk art. For the past one and half decades, Babu has been exploring the possibilities of painting to create a unique visual language that expresses his artistic experiences. K.R. Babu combines the concepts and iconography of mural tradition, so easily with other contemporary images and personalized experiences and inspirations – which makes his creative works particularly distinct.
Higly influenced by Communist ideology that mesmerised the socio-political and cultural milieu of Kerala during his formative years, K.R. Babu has been radical in his thoughts. In his recent paintings, one can see confluences of different ideologies and references to transforming social settings of the Kerala region. He also maintains keen interests in poetry, folklore, folk art, literature and philosophy. Alongside these, his extensive travels also enrich K.R. Babu’s creative experience, which is evident from the temporal transformations in styles and strokes of the artist.
Babu is a born experimentalist and a touch of minimalism can be seen throughout his visual dialogues that are influenced and inspired by various Indian schools like Kalighat paintings and Mughal miniature tradition, apart from various western art traditions. In a sense, one can also trace an autobiographical orientation in his recent works.
In the history of Indian art, one can see an array of artists, who had successfully pondered over images of women – a trend that can be traced back to the works of Indus Valley Civilisation and to the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and Ravindranath Tagore. In literature too, great poets like Kalidasa visualized scenes in which the charismatic presence of pretty women brings blooming of plants. Great poets of recent past like Rabindranath Tagore and Kumaranashan also have similar experiences to share. In line with this lineage, in his present show K. R. Babu also features the images of nature and women in tandem, along with the richness of flora and fauna, in a very personal and original way.
Most of his paintings portray the pictures of lovelorn lasses, encircled by trees, plants and flowers. Women’s issues are expressed through images of lonely women who display unusual moods of silence with utmost poignancy. Strikingly, these images often converse with and move along with vibrant human emotions. These paintings also remind us of the visual richness and intrinsic detailing of Indian miniature paintings.
The works of K.R. Babu also testify the continuous efforts of the artist to experiment with his medium, strokes and styles. For instance, in one of his latest female drawing, Babu depicts male organ with a tinge of eroticism. By doing so Babu adopts a different idiom of visual language that combines the possibilities of abstract, satirical and surreal paintings.
The hallmark of K.R. Babu’s paintings is their highly decorative presentation, which is carefully done using repeated small design patterns, signs and symbols that create a sensitive language. The use of non-traditional colours imparts yet another dimension to K.R.Babu’s works and creates a mood that is contemplative, Indian in punch and universal in thought.