Priya Manojan
Priya Manojan was born on 25th May 1979,at Murukkumpuzha, Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala, as the eldest daughter of Shri. Prabhakaran and Smt. Ambika, Priya completed her
schooling at St. Augustine HSS. She inherited her artistic bent from her mother’s side and
her childhood was filled with colour’s. Her maternal grandfather Sri. Gangadharan famous
Ayurvedic medic , from whom she learned the basics of painting further keenly developed
and supported by her family and Hindi teacher Shri Ravindran. Her interests in art grew
with age and she opted for Fine arts as her subject for higher studies. She joined College of
Fine Arts in the year 1997 and was trained by M.Sanathanan (Principal), Prof. Kattoor
Narayan Pillai, art historian prof Chitra Bhanu. She is the recipient of the Kerala Lalithakala
Kala Academy award and graduated from the prestigious institute in second rank position
in the year 2001. In 2002, She joined College for Women in the Department of Continuing
Education as a Teacher of Arts. In 2006 she joined Govt. Sanskrit College and has also
served as art teacher in Bethany Senior Secondary school. She was awarded the Best Art
teacher award by Indira Gandhi Gyanpeeth (Aurangabad).
One of her Mural Painting .
She got married in the year 2001 to Manojan and became Priya Manojan.
The Paintings of Priya Manojan has become an active presence in the field of creative art
for two decades. She has fruitfully utilised her time during her study of Fine Arts and has to
her credit thousands of of creative paintings. She has adopted different styles and
techniques through out.
Her masterpieces can be categorised as 21st century creativity. Her paintings have
incorporated the nature, life and humans that she has been exposed to during her
childhood and adolescence. . Her paintings depict a cross section of the various episodes
in life like scenes from nature, tsunami, COVID, Cattle Series, The Hard worker, Save
Childress, The Buddha, water Lily, Ooty Atmosphere etc,Which come under different
genres of Collage, graphics and murals.
Priya Manojan and settled in Chempazhanthy.She is blessed with two kids Krishna Dev M P
and Kashidev M P. Her kids show keen interest in art and are inspired and inspired and
influenced by her. Chempazhanthy is the store house of spirituality and blessed by the birth
of the social reformer “Sree Narayana Guru”.
Priya has immense skill in handling diverse media like Pencil, Water Colour, Oil, Acrylic and
has also tried Wall Paintings. Even then her mastery is in Oil on Canvas. She has also
experimented on the possibilities of media paintings. Preparing Collage on Canvas by
spreading coir powder over oil painting s before the painting dries off, is an example of her
innovative techniques. Her coffee paintings, Ceramic paintings etc have attracted the
attention of the public.
Priya creates the ambience using subtle combinations of saffron, bluish green and indigo
and her palette is full of soft colour’s which create a soothing impact of the viewer. She
possesses the insight to relate that saffron, bluish green and brown burntamber are the by
– product of the greenery around. The blue in majority of her paintings is azure.
Many factors have inspired and contributed in to the artist’s sense of colour. Mural
paintings have created its ripples in Kerala a century ago. A . Ramachandran and C. N.
Karunakaran have been inspired by murals and developed individualistic modern style.
After graduating in arts in the year 2001,Priya Manojan joined Govt. Women’s College as an
Art Instructor in the Continuing Education Section. During this period, she adorns her
drawing room with a mural in acrylic ‘Sreekrishnanum Gokkalum’( Lord Krishna and the
Cows-75/185cm). Her use of subdued colour’s distinguish her from the other
contemporary women painters.
She has traveled and changed her technique with times. Tsunami, The Calamity that shook
us in 2005, was captured by her in her paintings and she tried to duplicate the pain and
agony experienced. A three days exhibition entitled “Tsunamikkushesham”(After Tsunami)
a solo exhibition held at the Thiruvanthpuram Museum Auditorium, exhibited all her
paintings in this series along with a few collage, sketches and graphic paintings. Priya’s oil
painting ‘Adverse Effect of Covid’ (60/55 cm) has has well absorbed the restrictions in life
due to COVID 19 and it’s aftermath. The Characters in her work, wearing mask and at
service are mostly women. The greenery in the background represent hope and optimism
for the future. The execution of the theme shows her commitment to the society and wins
one’s heart and soul.
Lion’s share of Priya‘s Paintings are on feminine themes highlighting their dreams
highlighting their dreams and disappointments, affections and emotions, loneliness and
alienation. The strong and intense colours bring out their life in its full intensity. The
presence of women in every walk of life is etched realistically, ranging from childhood to
old age, of which five women faces, vague and blurred, are a strong expression of their
agony and pain. Settings and scenes highlighting these feelings have been employed like
under the tree by the riverside, waiting at the doorstep in the dim light of a burning
kerosene lamp, amidst the smoke in the
kitchen, at the market place, at the work place spinning coir etc. Women are omnipresent,
those the painter has observed keenly, from school life to COVID times. Her rather
obsessive inclination to womanhood is most emphatic in the depiction of pregnant
women. To the painter, ‘pregnancy is synonymous to purity and sanctity, through which
both sustenance of human life and the culmination of the laws of nature are ensured.
PriyaManojan has named her works maternity 123 and on comparing the period of these
paintings it can very well be equated to her life and one can easily understand that she
herself is the protagonist in the paintings.
PriyaManojan paintings show her awareness of great artistic movements of the past. She is
also influenced and inspired by the modern movements in art. Collages are a combination
of oil and other media. For Priya it is oil paint and coir dust, the best example is the collage
‘Carrying’(80/50cm).
A distant influence of surrealism is visible in her works. Surrealism has been a strong
influence in art, after the popularity of Pablo Picasso in the 20 the century. This
movement propogated by the Spanish painter Salvador Dali had its impact on the painters
from kerala too. Priya‘s the moments of Mahatmaji (90/65cm) follows this genre and the
central character is painted Indigo blue. The human figures in the background are painted
in burntamber. In traditional Kerala style of mural art, men of greatness are portrayed in
green and blue to glorify their position.
PriyaManojan, during her College life and career has produced many novel and unique
creations using this technique.
History of art, down, the ages, has supported the idea of painters showing a special interest
in a particular creature in their series. M. F. Hussain was fascinated by horses.
Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh was known for his ‘Sunflower series’ and Claude Monet
was the painter of lilies. Keralite A. ARamachandran was noted for his lotus series.
Cartoonist R. K. Lakshman was known for his love of crows. Sculptor Henry Moor’s goat
series was a visual treat. PriyaManojan has an affinity to painting goats, which in fact is an
inevitable part of village life. Goats are easily domesticated and petted that is one of the
reasons many works of literature and movies are produced with goats being characters like
‘Pathummayude Aadu’ and the movie named ‘Aadu’.
Priya appears to have a special liking for goats with long ears and no horns, the ‘hybrid
variety’. They are characterized as mother, Children and siblings in her works. Her twelve
paintings in the series include’mother goat’, ‘brothers,’ village scene’, Etching, Oil on
Canvas. She maintains the proportion well and also duplicates the physical aspects in
nature.
The two paintings portraying a lady in white hugging a kid ( a young one of a goat) and the
second one kissing it, bring in a perfect blend of skill and imagination. The painting ‘
brothers’ depict the brother hood of a white and a brown goat, the brown goat is seen
resting it’s head on the white. The barren hills in the background adds on to the scenic
beauty. In some the goats are done as portraits.
“Sri G Azhikode”, is the author of the book “The Creative World of Priya Manojan”.
She had conducted an exhibition named the Prayathnam ,was started from 2020 still
continuing ,till now it has been 175 painting.Several renowned artists and celebraties
supported it through a video
One of her latest painting work of the Kings of UAE has now been displayed on the walls
of NMDC office ,Abu Dhabi .
On coming August 29 she is been invited to Abu Dhabi for honouring Camel International
Award.
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