INTRODUCTION

The geographical source of the imagery in Ratheesh's paintings is undoubtedly Kerala, the lush green vegetation of this tropical state of west-coast India, and the dark complexion of its people. A second look reveals that's not what the paintings are really about. Kerala is certainly present here, but the true location of these works is elusive. One would be misled if one were to look out too literally for cartographic pointers.

Ratheesh's whole venture far outstrips notions of genre – it is bigger, broader, inclusive of contemplations that strictly genre works would not be able to accommodate. The sheer excess of fascinating visual material offered us – each detail worked on with incredible enjoyment and control – defeats any simple moralistic interpretation.

– Excerpted from Gieve Patel's 'The Empire of the Dead: A Potent Vision from Kerala' (Art India, March 2010).

Revealed in the work of Ratheesh T. are the contemporary possibilities of the classic – the tangible qualities of form, light, colour and texture and the intangible ones of high imagination, subtle evocation and an intrinsic acknowledgement of all that is unknowable. Ratheesh freely layers associations from the external world (of art, literature, film and cultural history) and the internal world (of his own inherent experiences and sensibilities). His unedited oil paintings, spilling over with images, symbols and stories evoke a spreading range in space and time. The codes can be embedded in current environmental concerns or in the ancient symbols of sacred spaces. While they retain the spirit of play through quirky image-juxtapositions, Ratheesh's paintings bear the gravitas of a grand historical parable.

Born 1980 in Kerala, India
BFA (Painting) – College of Fine Arts, Trivandrum
Lives in Trivandrum