About the artist
Jayashree Jayapaul, a self taught artist was born into a large family in Madurai in 1955. She started painting at a very young age and has been exhibiting in galleries from 1978. She has been part of group exhibitions in Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Venkatappa Art Gallery and Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore, Lalitkala Academy, Chennai and Chitrakala academy in Coimbatore.
She has completed an art project of the entire bible, starting from the creation in Genesis to the vision of heaven in Revelations. Her art provides her with the best opportunities to explore untraveled avenues in biblical themes that have influenced her in her personal life.
Having spent her childhood years in Madurai, teenage years in Coonoor, Nilgirs and her married life in Periyakulam, Theni her other works also focus on life and rural scenes in and around this region of Tamil Nadu. The canvases are a blend of a fine flow of muted colours balanced by strong and vibrant hues. She says that her choice of colour is dictated by what appeals to her aesthetic sense at a given moment more than her emotional state of mind.
Introduction to the paintings by the artist.
Silappatikaram, one of the earliest Tamil Jain epic masterpiece, tells the well-known story of an ordinary couple Kovalan and Kannagi caught up in an internal, emotional war. It involves love, rejection, happiness, pain, good, evil, faithfulness, infidelity, treachery and dishonour.
The palm leaf manuscripts of the original epic poem were rediscovered in monasteries in the second half of the 19th century by U.V. Swaminatha Iyer- a pundit and Tamil scholar. Since then the epic poem has been translated into many languages, dramatized in movies, plays and sung to music in classical and contemporary songs. Needless to say, it has been painted and sculpted by artists through the ages.
My birthplace being Madurai, I was naturally interested in portraying the epic on canvas. Pondering the story on the entire epic, I wondered how I could possibly portray it all in one canvas. My son suggested a large mural like painting that would accommodate the major events. Dwelling on it, it made me think about how a random panel painting would work. It was a challenging notion but as I began progressing on the canvas, I enjoyed the outcome. The panels provided me with ample space for the various incidents in the epic. On display inside the Madurai International airport are two sets of paintings, one depicting the final court scene in between Kannagi and the King and Queen of Madurai and the other about Kovalan’s romantic interlude with Madhavi.
Kannagi
Acrylic on stretched canvas
This painting is situated on the ground floor above the VIP lounge.
Madhavi
Acrylic on stretched canvas
This painting is on the first floor corridor leading to the food court, after security check.
The End
We hope you enjoyed the tour. If you are interested in buying the paintings or to know more about the artists work, she can be reached at jayashreejayapaul2002@yahoo.com
