I am more concerned about the “why” of art, rather than its “what” and “how’. Once I asked K. P. Thomas, why he paints. The answer rolled out, before I finished asking, “Why I live”. This abrupt answer didn’t surprise me. He, himself, has admitted once, when working in a bank, he used to sketch and paint on paper in trash can. It is interesting to know, perforated paper became his medium later.

 I would like to define his art as a creative overdrive. He does not wait, it appears, to prepare and plan his creations. And he steps out of the cocoon of tried-and-tested to explore and hone his creative urges. The extraneous parameters that control the art production and dissemination have not played a restrictive role in his oeuvre. He breaks away from this accepted parameters, and dares to walk the un-trodden, to create new. This would be, I think, why our institutionalized art is reluctant to, or keeps away from accepting this artist. But this sidestepping has not affected the creative penchant of Thomas. Instead, it has impelled him forward, and far more acutely he pursued his callings.

He goes on with his experimentations, which is his forte. His concepts change, not with the changes around him, but the changes happening in his psyche, and he succumbs to it in his creations. Around ten years back, I’ve seen him painting on themes having societal relevance. “The floating head of martyr”, and “Fallen flag”, for instance. He has even painted on the victim of ‘sooryanelli’ sex racket case. He has done an installation on a tribal myth of “karithandan”, and presented it to activist C. K. Janu, during her protest in front of the secretariat.

Later his concepts did undergo a big change. And with that his themes and style too. In the place of compound extremities of colours, we see gentle coloration, and thin delicate lines. His recent works do not startle us or make us agitated, as it used to, but make us think. These works are done with philosophical overtones, which could be, and very often, misunderstood with spiritual annotations. “Nun In Anguish”, “Koodaarangal”, “Rasaleela”, “Ponkala”, “Horrondous”, “The Drizzling Kadaplav Tree” are some of the works I would like to juxtapose with his earlier works, to take in this transition.

Still, he has not floundered along the way. He painted “Madonna Of  Shaheen Bagh”, a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act, which shows he could not remain nonchalant to social concerns. But, though a protest, it has a timbre of empathy in it.  

Now he has come up with his paintings on the covid crisis, “Existence in pandemic times”. These are not figures and stories of what he has seen around during this crisis, as it is usually done. There are even artists who have painted on covid crisis, with human figures wearing masks. I would like to say, it’s nothing if not ridiculous. But these works of Thomas reveals his angst, caught in the throes of this crisis.

The concept, and style, unmistakably recognizable as ‘Thomas-esque’, is the results of various experiments, at various stages in his life.

 “People fail to understand that we paint in order to experiment and to develop ourselves”, says Edward Munch. It’s true about Thomas.

And, it’s here art is … and, it’s here the artist is.

Ranju Leaf
Leaf art projects