Mood and Expressions of Middle Class
Various moods of life are reflected in the art works of Mangalore based self-taught Artist Kandan Gopal who has earned many prestigious awards including 18 th International Art Binnale 2018 Bangladesh, Dhaka. His works basically depict the position and apprehensions of Middle class in the strata of our society where the poor took solace in the illusion that the rich were penalized by the new laws, the middle class stoically bore the brunt in the faith that it would contribute to a cleaner system.
Growing up in Ankola, a small town in North Karnataka, He couldn’t continue his education due to the financial hardships at home and had to drop out in class 8. He was side-lined me and made fun by fellow mates of me because of his speech disability.
“The creative side in me just took over. I started sketching and drawing on the walls of the town using charcoal, and from then on I never looked back. I believe strongly that God had a plan for me and I was destined to be an Artist. This brings me to my other series of work “The journey of Buddha”. “Buddathva” is to revolutionize one’s inner life and to develop the qualities of the Buddha-Wisdom, compassion and abundant vitality or life-force,” He explains.
Talking about the predicament of Middle Class owing to incessant change in the laws, rules that govern the society Gopal expostulates, “Major concern I depict through my series of Art Work ‘Contemporary Society’ is the quantum of economic burden on the particular class. My Art work from 25 years has used revealing aspects of the past, which have a profound impact on our contemporary culture and society today,” adds Gopal.
His Art work takes a critical view of the social, political and cultural issues. In the current climate where many believe the past has no relevance, He finds himself continually returning to those aspects that are often hidden or mis-represented in the official recordings for posterity. His life changing experience was, when he was awarded by the “Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy” for their “18 Asian Art Biennale”. I received the award for “Contemporary Society” a
98” (48”x60”) work which depicts the domination of the capitalist world.