K.T. Mathai
Born in Pangarappilly, Ernakulam, Kerala.
Post diploma in painting, RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura, Kerala

Solo Exhibitions
2009 ‘Climacterics’, Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi, Calicut.
2008 ‘Fairy Tales from a Lost Land’ curated by Johny M L, Gallery OED, Kochi.

Group Exhibitions
2010 ‘Border Lines’ curated by Johny M L, Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
2009 ‘Blurring Boundaries to New Existences’ curated by Tanya Abraham, Sutra Gallery, Mattancherry, Kochi
2009 ‘Unseen Signs’, Museum Gallery, Trivandrum.
2008 ‘Cross Country’, National Exhibition of Art, curated by Priyadarshini Sharma,Travancore Art Gallery, Delhi.
2006,2007 and 2008 Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi State Exhibitions.
2005 and 2006 Kazhcha, Mahatma Library, Tripunithura.
2005 Artist Suresh Memorial State Exhibition conducted by Desabhimani, Thrissur edition. Camps
2010 Finding a Lost Culture and Tradition (FALCAT) Art camp series 2, Kutch, Gujarat Conceptualized by Johnyml & Art Home, Baroda,
2008 Chingam National Painters Camp at Spice Village, Thekkady, conducted by Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi.
2008 Monsoon Art Camp at FACT, Kochi.
1985 Fine Arts Students Association Camp,Thrissur.

Awards & Scholarship
2008 Kerala Lalitha Kala Akdemi State Award.
2007 Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi Sankara Menon endowment gold medal.
1985-86 Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi Scholarship.

currently works and lives in Kochi, Kerala.

K. T. Mathai
Tel: 09447327340
E-mail: mathaitomk@gmail.com

Middle of Nowhere (water colour on paper, triptych, 20 x25 inchs x 3

At a time when urban land is valued by the square inch, the real fruits of the soil become negligible, without any value. The triptych has as its theme, a cityscape wherein nature, man and animal are shown uprooted, without any bearings - in the middle of nowhere.

We have found new ways to move forward, leaving by the wayside, nature and those attached to it. Indeed, it is an insane rush for development at any cost, where nature and its fruits are forgotten. The painting is a triptych, so as to fully explore the possibilities of the length, breadth and depth of the cityscape. Each panel is complete in itself, even as all three of them synergises towards a wholesome meaning.

Antithesis (acrylic on canvas, 48 x60 inchs)
This painting is a continuation of the ‘Climacterics’ series. More than a continuation, ‘Antithesis’ is a fresh digression, bringing in a new metaphor in the form of a circus acrobat on a unicycle pitted against the exploited landscape.
This antithetical visual metaphor signifies the precarious, hallucinatory balance that man professes as an excuse for the imbalance that he has created through his exploitation and steady destruction of nature. We wound, saying we beautify; we ourselves destroy nature and then perform such seemingly balancing acts as justification. Thus ‘Antithesis’ can signify human nature as a ‘balancing’ and opposing force against nature itself. Intended to balance the existing, it actually opposes. This balancing act is all too momentary; we have no idea what is in store for us in the next moment.
The whole landscape is intended as being transported on wheels, subtly hinting at the transient nature of what is before us at the moment. This is a momentary capture, frozen movement. The next moment it will be gone out of sight. The mutilation of nature when set against such an antithetical metaphor, becomes even more vivid, unexpected and shocking.