“Touch and feel my paintings,” insists the 69 year-old editor of Malayala Manorama, K A Francis, whose exhibition of paintings titled Onam Pacha (Harvest of Leaves) recently took place at Durbar Hall in Kochi. Also the former chairman of the Kerala Lalit Kala Akademi, Francis’s new collection, the first in five years, is a sharp deviation from his usual work as a tantric painter of Vishnu padam and Lakshmi padam used in puja rooms and at doorsteps. “There is an abundance of green during Onam, the harvest season, which inspired me to make this collection. I have added texture to the different elements in the paintings, so they don’t just appear different but feel different too,” Francis tells us. For example, on the painting ‘White on Green’, one can actually feel the leaves in the foreground as a waterfall pans evenly into the distance. Replete with mustard, greens and blues, the 30 acrylic-on-canvas paintings depict the verdant fecundity of Kerala.

Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
November 2016