artist dethan

“Dethan is a wizard who in his drawings has captured and imprisoned the wildest of impulses and urges” opined the noted poet and critic Dr. Ayyappa Paniker.

Yes. Art lovers throng to see Dethan’s works as he comes with a bang every time. His expressions of stark realities shake our inner self and disturb our mind for days. But Dethan’s recent ‘Nude Complexions’ is far away from his earlier works like Kali –images of our Fractured Times, Rhythm of Fantasy, Parinamam I&II, Mukhangal and Prisoners of Time.

In an interview at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram the artist talks about his artistic odyssey through the years and his present work Nude Complexions.

“Like any other artist I am sensitive and always felt deeply about social injustice of any kind. The erosion of values, greed and selfishness, made this beautiful world an unsafe place to live. In a world shorn of love and kindness, driven by greed and lust for power how can one live peacefully? In the existing social circumstances how can man ever hold his head high? These kinds of thoughts always haunt me. When I poured my feelings on canvas, it was like the bursting of flood gates. ” he said.
Kali- the Images of our Fractured Times celebrated the power of black and white. It was the depiction of the fading goodness in man. In fact it was the recreation of the world around. Strong surrealism dominated that phase of Dethan. It reminded Pablo Picasso’s Guernica which conveyed the artist’s intense protest against the Spanish Civil war.

The grotesque images appear sharp, harsh, crude, tormented gnarled, fierce and disturbing. All the creations in this series were supplemented by comments from noted personalities like Dr. Ayyappa Paniker, M T Vasudevan Nair, Adoor Gopala Krishnan, and Abu Abraham.

Was he influenced by Dali?

“Not exactly, but Van Gogh and Gauguin did” he revealed and added: “And I always experiment. Hence my career has gone through several phases, each with major shifts in themes and medium”

Subsequent series Parinamam-I was thought provoking. He selected gaudy colors, which revealed emotion as an under current, for Dethn’s concern has always been man’s psyche. But Parinamam II had a pleasant blend of pastel shades which clearly exposed the transformation [Parinamam] with in the artist. Headless figures, with chained limbs are wriggling to free themselves. “Man has lost his identity and self respect, hence he has no face” explained the artist and continued: “During the exhibition art lovers complained that the works made them unhappy. They say these images upset them. But that is exactly what I wanted.”

Dethan is ever in search of styles, patterns and innovations which always keeps his work away from the main stream. In the current series “Nude Complexions” we have realistic figures instead of haunting and macabre ones.

How did you go about?

“This theme was conceived by me long before. One day I mused over the blank canvas and began to work. It was a spontaneous outflow. Yes. The subject was the conscious choice but the images emerged from the subconscious.”

The fresh array of nudes on canvas revealed Dethan’s in depth study of anatomy and lighting effects. The figures of the damsels bathed in the subtle shades of sepia splendor, enthralled the spectators. .

Born in 1946, B.D. Dethan took his Diploma in Fine Arts, worked as artist in various government departments and retired as the Art Editor State Institute of Encyclopedic Publications and was the member of Kerala Lalith Kala Academy. His collections adorn the Parliament House, Kendra Lalith Kala Academy, and State Lalith Kala Academy, Sree Chithra Art Gallery, KTDC and ITDC Hotels and other private collections in India and abroad.
Dethan has built rich clientele of art connoisseurs who come in search of him and his works in full admiration