Murali Cheeroth
Born in Thrissur in 1966, Kerala, Murali Cheeroth earned a BFA in 1992 and MFA in 1995 from Santinikethan, West Bengal, and an Advanced Computer Diploma in Digital Media. According to the artist, his working process is “a kind of extraction system, that draws on tiny concerns about uber urbanization, frenzied globalization and the visual/virtual stimulation therein, and folds and unfolds them into another reality to simplify their characteristics and relationships in order to build a new visual experience that is clear and vivid”. Before he settled in Bangalore, Cheeroth lived in many cities, and used his experience as an “outsider” to inform his art.
His work is vivid commentaries and observations of cultural structures and identities in society. Often stitching together a collage of jarring imagery, Cheeroth renders his work with neon saturations that bear resemblance more to new media and advertisement, than fine art. While fairly recognizable, the subjects in Cheeroth’s paintings are deformed, distorted, and multi-layered to create overlapping perspectives.
Cheeroth has held solo shows in many cities across the country, and participated in over 20 group shows in India. He has also been part of international shows, like Emerging India, which was presented by Art Alive Gallery at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2007. Cheeroth has received many awards, including the State Lalit Kala Akademi Award in 1997-98; Kanoria Scholarship for Print Making in 1997; Cultural Scholarship by Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, and New Delhi during 1993-95. The artist lives and works in Bangalore, Karnataka.
His display with us is titled – Urbanscapes 1 and Urbanscapes 2 ( 66x66 inches), Acrylic and oil on canvas made in the year 2021. Urban space is a vacuum where there is blankness even in the mt-mcc of the crowd. In this time of Covid-19 pandemic, this Urban-scape, which is almost like an unbending geometric space like a mesh, transforms the concept of space making, and redefines the natural habitat. Everything we see, everything we hear, has a new rhythm that can heal the pangs of loss.
