'A Visual Narrative': Manjunath Wali gives Jodhpur a royal look in his blue series of paintings

 

Bengaluru based artist Manjunath Wali is known for his paintings on monuments and places of historical significance like Hampi and Badami. He prefers the warm colours of the earth, which are associated with health, healing and tranquillity.

Manjunath Wali  is fascinated by historical monuments, and recently he visited Jodhpur. He chose the colour blue to express his love for depicting daily life in the heritage places of Rajasthan, which is known for creating a city with walls in that particular hue.

He experiments with different mediums, but watercolour has always been his favourite. “Earlier, I would use only brown, orange, yellow, red and black. This time around, I have used shades of blue, blue is a colour that represents royalty, that runs in the lineage of rulers of the city, since a bygone era.” says Wali.

Wali’s magnificiant watercolour paintings, depicting Jodhpur doors and windows, leave much to the imagination. "I wanted to experiment with something different. When I look at a door or a window I do not see them as openings, I see a story, a sense of what could be going on beyond what is outside. These elements represent Jodhpur and reveal a lot about a city’s architecture, hence I started painting this series, every painting is a composition that’s inspired by four to five photographs,” - says Manjunath Wali, whose 'A Visual Narrative' series is inspired by Jodhpur.

‘A Visual Narrative’, a solo show of Manjunath Wali's  artwork is currently on display at Bengaluru’s MKF Museum of Art from May 6 to 22.

Wali has clearly shown his adeptness in handling the medium of watercolours with all variations and hues of French Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue and Turquoise Blue. His choice of blue in different tones, highlighted with other primary pigments, has the painting pulsate with life.

“Keep your doors and windows open. Enjoy the view, and help each other. That is the message I am trying to communicate through these paintings,’’ says Wali.

The 20 paintings on Bockingford paper in this watercolour series range between ₹ 25,000 and ₹ 50,000. 

Artist Manjunath Wali

Wali originally hails from Bijapur in Karnataka and holds a MFA in Visual Arts from Hampi University College and Masters in Fine Arts from Vijaya College, Gadag. Previously his artwork was limited  to signboards, commercial work and wall paintings. After attending the seventh Karnataka Kala Mela in 2003 he gave a new direction to his skills. He spent a lot of time at the exhibition and interacted with senior artists.

Wali said- "Despite being a student of Fine Arts, my vision for art was not so wide, but after attending Karnataka Kala Mela, I got a glimpse of how big the art field is and its amazing vistas. I decided that I needed to further my education and come to Bangalore,"

The 37-year-old started his watercolour painting journey in 2002. He won the Camlin award twice in 2013 and 2014 and the International Biennale 2017. A recipient of the Shenoy Art Foundation and Karnataka Lalit Kala Academy awards,  give all credits of his success to his mentor Gurudas Shenoy,  one of Bengaluru’s best known artists. His works have been displayed in the UK, Japan, Singapore, Dubai and other international locations.