What do our gods seem like to visiting foreigners, Indophiles or otherwise? How do they perceive our relationships with our Gods?

Well, to French painter and sculptor Christiane Durand, who has been journeying and photo-documenting temples and sanctuaries of erstwhile Chola territories in Southern India, Vishnu’s avatars strike a chord. Her exhibition of paintings on Indian mythology ‘Men and God’ show a fresh perspective. Her colourful, simplistic, and unassuming works ponder on man’s links to God, subtly embedding them as a part of the entirety of man’s relation to existence and the cosmos. These eighteen paintings are refreshingly simplistic and cheerfully colourful. The works speak of not just Gods, but of relationships between artist, viewers and the Gods.

“I found it interesting, this confluence of man and animal in Indian Gods. It think it is a beautiful culture, and India is really an amazing country”, says Christiane, who is famous around the world for painting into existence ‘private’ mythological universes. She adds, “The avatars of Vishnu are fascinating. When I took home these photographs, people back home in France were enthralled”. Christiane first came across the forms of Vishnu’s avatars at a bazaar. Christiane Durand lives and works in Paris and has studied art history and archeology, and also painting at Ecole des Beaux Arts de Toulouse, besides studying at famous painter Gustave Singier’s studio. The artist will be present at the inauguration of the show.

Cholamandal Centre for Contemporary Art
Cholamandal Artist Village,
Injambakkam,
Chennai.