Pics: Santhosh Kaviyoor

It is not only his time-defying art that makes B D Dethan a household name in Kerala, but also his intrinsic earnestness and lovable candour. This artist, who rubs shoulders with the maestros of Indian art scene, has no such airs about him. Standing amidst his paintings that belong to the series ‘Avastha’ (Condition), Dethan laments about the despicable condition of world today. His paintings, often abstract, conceive the complexities of world in an appealing get-up. They are his mouthpieces against the societal stigmas that haunt innocent minds with their impractical logics. Dethan is conducting an exhibition of his latest series ‘Avastha’ at Suryakanthi Gallery, Sasthamangalam, from March 12 to 31.

“This is not the golden era of humanity or nature. People’s worlds have shrunk to themselves. We are promoting a culture where one is eating oneself. I am scared of the democracy, the world, the people. I am scared of everything around me. So this is my fight against the our current ‘condition’,” says Dethan.

To curb his creative hunger pangs that began at a very young age, this veteran took to painting once he was out of school. The ‘Studio International Magazine’ (published from London during 1964-1992) which he happened to stumble upon at the Public Library here, was what inspired him to learn art. The magazine opened a bigger and better world before the young man, who was yearning for a change from the portraits and landscapes he had seen around him. The works of Masters like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollack that featured in the magazine were nothing like the paintings he had seen until then. Dethan was easily swayed by the glimpses of modern art he got to experience from the magazine.

“If you ask me who is my teacher, I will say it is ‘Studio International’. That magazine was a treasure trove of world art. The exposure it gave me was immense,” says Dethan. Dethan’s paintings often following a surrealistic school, however, they stand out of their own, with little trace of influence.

When he first joined the School of Art in the city, he didn’t even know how to hold a brush. He was often considered a black sheep in the class where the perfect renditions or copies scaled far higher than experimental works.

“School of Art was a place where they churned out art teachers for schools. I always came last in my class during those days as I didn’t know the basics of drawing. Once I was asked to draw a cat who jumps before a bicycle for an exam and I was lost. I didn’t know to draw a cat or cycle. My teacher told me never to enter the class again. But from there I have worked hard to reach where I am today,” he says.  

On a women’s attire festooned with delicate flower designs Dethan strokes eyes, nose and lips. The costume easily gets into character, while condescending the mangods thriving in the country, quite relevant in today’s times. Though many
mistook it for the Hindu god ‘Shivan’, Dethan says he never had Shivan in his mind when he painted it. On another canvas he paints life-giving pills lying on the floor. They invite the consumers with their iridescent colours. But what are they really? Elixirs or poisons? The artist wonders. Magazine pages often serve as canvases for Dethan. He carves designs on them with a blade, while the background serves as colours and patterns.

Dethan’s paintings always belong to a series, represent an issue or an array of issues. His first series, ‘Kali’, done in black and white using pen and ink, took over the Kerala art scene by storm in the 1980s.

His style never retained, rather it changed shape and style over the years, depending on the theme. And it is his adaptability that makes Dethan’s works different from other artists’.

“After my Kali series I got bored and started the ‘Faces’ series which was done with charcoals. Then I did a vibrant abstract series and then a very realistic nude series. Later I did a “Parinamam’ (Evolution) series, which garnered a lot of attention. So I don’t stick to a particular style. I believe that the artists should have a strong base before they jump into an abstract style. I can draw an extremely realistic image with as much skill as an abstract image,” says Dethan.

Cherian and Family before the take-off

We were sipping our morning cup of tea with Monday blues plastered across our face, when Cherian and family were thanking their stars on July 14. Even when we rummaged through our daily dose of news, the small box on an Air India flight barely caught our eye. But had that negligible little box told a different story, Cherian and Family would not be here to recount their near-death encounter. Cherian, who was making his triennial visit home on that god-forbidden flight, sees the whole episode as a mind blowing miracle.

Cherian, a Kottayam native, and his family of four were the sole Malayali travellers of the Newark- Mumbai Air India Boeing 777, which safe landed after a few minutes of panic and trepidation as the flight’s engines caught fire. Cherian and his wife Liza have been working in New York for the past 24 years. Liza can recall every little detail of that plane ride without batting an eye lid.

“The flight was on time. We were ushered into the seats at 4.20 pm and by 4.30 it took off. We could see the buildings languidly disappearing behind us and the marine blue of the Atlantic sea emerging through the windows. I unclasped my seat belts and asked my daughter to surf through the inflight entertainment and put on a good Malayalam movie. We finally decided on Celluloid. I was drifting off slowly while watching the movie, when my 16-year-old son called out to my husband, ” Liza quips.

Alvin, the couple’s youngest son, suddenly noticed the familiar blocks of skyscrapers instead of the sparkling blue of the ocean below him. “He called out to me and said look daddy we are going back to Manhattan. He also noticed the wisps of smoke in the sky. Then only it had struck us that there is something wrong,” says Cherian. The pilot and the crew made sure that the passengers were unaware of the mishap to avoid panic. That worked in the passengers’ favour beautifully. Because Anupa, their daughter, says even when the air hostess asked to put on their seat belts nobody doubted it is more than just a turbulence.

“One traveller was about to scuffle to the toilet. And that is when they insisted that everyone should put on their seat belts and do not move from their seats,” says Anupa. Alvin, who knew that there is an eight-hour-travel across the Atlantic ocean to reach India, suddenly remembered September 11.

“I don’t know what made him think of it then, but Alvin said it is from Newark Airport that the plane which hit the World Trade Center took off. And whatever courage we gathered together went in vain. I was in the cusp of erupting when my husband told me to calm down and I silently chanted prayers,” says Liza. “God has been merciful to us I must say,” she does not forget to add. For Cherian, however, this experience is nothing more than a significant day in their life.

The only thing that worried him then was the future of their kids had something happened to him and Liza.

“All four of us were there. That was the irony. If something had happened it would have happened to all of us,” says Liza. The family says the pilot was completely in control until the plane landed safely on Newark. “Once the plane touched the land, the pilot said with a sigh of relief ‘Thank God we are safe’. Until then he himself was not sure about the plane’s safety,” says Cherian. The family, who were to go to Kerala, took a momentary decision to visit Cherian’s sister in Mumbai before landing Kerala. They couldn’t travel the same day and was taken to a hotel to stay. “We couldn’t find any other Malayalis even when we were taken to a hotel to spend the night. The flight had mostly Gujaratis and Mumbaites. Despite their gruff behaviour, the authorities managed to find some space for us the next day,” says Cherian. Cherian believes that this could have happened even if he was traveling on road. Anupa agrees with him.

“Car accidents are so many when compared to planes. So because of this incident we are not going to stop travelling in a plane. That would make no sense,” Anupa concludes.