Varna S Tharayil has joined Fine Arts Whanganui.
PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS
Varna S Tharayil has joined Fine Arts Whanganui.
PICTURE / PAUL BROOKS
Varna S Tharayil is one of two artists who have recently joined the collective known as Fine Arts Whanganui. Her abstract work is on display at the Fine Arts Whanganui Gallery in Taupo Quay. "It's called fluid art, and most of them I have done using acrylic paints. I work mostly withacrylic, resin and alcohol inks," she says.
On display are canvases, paintings on boards and resin coated tiles. "I have been always into abstract art. We are a family of four: my mum is an artist. She lives in India and she is more into very defined landscapes, portraits, nature and she also does murals. She works with oils, acrylic, watercolour and everything. "My dad, he's a doctor and he's also a violinist. I have a brother: he lives in Hamilton (NZ), he's a doctor too, a gastroenterologist, but he loves sketching." Varna, however, prefers to create art without definition, and has done from an early age: she goes straight to colours. "I enjoy looking at other people's abstract work and the techniques they use."
Varna is completely self-taught. Marriage and children took Varna away from her art, but since resuming study (she is studying psychology through Massey) art came back to her. "Even though I enjoy doing art, it is also a big stress reliever. When it's all too much I take out a canvas and take out my colours — I love colours." Varna comes from the southern Indian state of Kerala. In her native language of Malayalam, her name means 'colour'.
"My husband is a doctor, he works at the hospital: he is the biggest support I have here." Her children are also artists, with her eldest daughter, Devika, a winner in last year's Waimarino Art Awards with her drawing. Varna's youngest daughter, Mila, enjoys her mother's passion for abstract.
Each of Varna's paintings on display at Fine Arts uses a different technique and colour application. "I use acrylic paint and I use pouring mediums, and you need a certain consistency for each technique." Some of the effects are achieved by blowing into the paint. "I would have a certain idea in my mind as to what I want: accordingly I have to adjust my paint and pouring medium."
Between concept and execution, changes can occur, as Varna explains, looking at a painting titled Black Hole. "I had a sunflowery thing in my mind and that's how I started. Then a lot of other ideas came into my mind and I wanted it to look like an iris, which is where these blues came in. After that I wanted it to look like a deep, black hole — so it's a mix of all these things that came into my mind, and that's the beauty of abstract: it's so undefined and everybody sees it differently."
