Can grief be turned into art?

At Ashvita’s, Vessels of Vulnerability, an exhibition of works by the late artist R Varadarajan, seems to ask exactly that. Filled with bold colours, flashes of red and layered abstract forms, the works do not reveal themselves immediately. But the longer you look at them, the more they expound on the idea of memory, loss, and emotional turmoil.

Built through abstraction and textured with paper stencils and old materials, his canvases transform deeply personal experiences into something personal, suggesting that human emotions are simply too complex to be captured through realistic images. 

Born in 1935 in Tamil Nadu, Varadarajan studied at the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Chennai under KCS Paniker in 1959. He exhibited alongside contemporaries such as KCS Paniker, S Dhanapal, HV Ramgopal, K Sreenivasulu, Reddeppa Naidu, K Kunhiraman, and many more. His paintings, drawings, and prints feature an abstract style distinct from the popular figurative art and tantric-based abstraction of the peers of his time. 

“What makes Varadarajan’s voice distinct within the Madras Art Movement is the way he moved away from direct cultural symbolism and turned inward toward psychological intensity,” says curator Rithik Pramod. In his artworks, the human forms are visible but rarely in full. “Instead of painting realistic scenes, Varadarajan became more interested in expressing emotional states like fear, sorrow, anxiety, and inner conflict. Abstraction, for him, was not about style or decoration; it was a way of working through experience and emotion,” adds Rithik.

Apart from abstraction, the exhibition also features his experimentation with diverse mediums and styles. A Culture Scholarship from the Ministry of Education supported his postgraduate studies in painting, and he later taught in the Commercial Art Department at his alma mater until 1994. His works were exhibited across India and internationally, including at the 1961 Paris Biennale and the 1964 International Graphic Art Exhibition in Poland. 

Rithik explains how most of his artworks arrive through a three-stage process: absorption, where he submerges into the emotional aspect of human existence, like grief and human fragility; distillation, where he lets these heavy feelings settle in his mind; and residue, where the canvas reveals abstract shapes and colours, where he can pour out his soul. Rithik says, “his style becomes strong enough to hold the real weight of human emotion.”

The mood of the paintings also shifts over time. The darker, more introspective tones gradually give way to softer shades of yellow, blue and green, reflecting a period in his life when the artist seemed more at peace and in tune with his emotions. “The gestures and layered surfaces carry a sense of vulnerability and emotional tension rather than fixed meanings or symbols,” says Rithik.

Having passed away in 2019, Varadarajan’s artistic life was marked by many accolades. He was the recipient of several significant awards, including the Tamil Nadu Ovia Nunkalai Kuzhu State Award (1976), the National Award from the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi and the Mahakoshal Kala Parishad Award, Raipur (1984). 

Varadarajan’s legacy teaches us that vulnerability should not be hidden but rather celebrated through colours. 

Vessels of Vulnerability is on at Ashvita’s, Radha Krishnan Salai, Mylapore till July 17. Entry is free.