Habitus 3, from Murali Cheeroth’s Habitus series explores the artist’s concerns and fears over the rapid urbanization which India is currently undergoing. Although urbanization is supposed to be a force for good, increasing the average person’s standard of living, it has in many cases had a very negative effect on family values, relationships and the way people live. There has been a total cultural shift in perspective.
"The architecture of megacities as a construction of interwoven lines is a central topic in the colourful paintings of Murali Cheeroth.His paintings show influences of both his immediate environment and city life, they are focused on his interest in the physical and psychological aspects of everyday life and human emotions. Murali Cheeroth creates scenes in an unusual perspective where human figures are depicted as mythical and isolated at once. Often mere fragments, they are placed in worlds which are immersed in the glare of neon light, presenting a stark contrast to the realistically portrayed industrial sites and objects. The dramatic tension of Murali Cheeroth's paintings is heightened by the contrast between the sharp lines and blurred parts. Different levels of reality are interwoven and placed in multiple layers on top of each other, creating a scene from several different points-of-view. Their collage-like structure makes the content of the paintings enigmatic and difficult to fathom.Despite the recognition value of certain shapes and objects, structures in Murali Cheeroth's paintings are distorted,
bent, twisted and deformed. The artist extracts visual moments from different situations and realities to assemble them into visionary and virtual structures." Dr. Verena Widorn
Murali Cheeroth was born in 1966 in a small village in Kerala (India's only communist state) and his work is imbued with issues concerning the rapid development of Indian society and the underlying violence that sometimes erupts as part of this process. For many years Murali Cheeroth has lived and worked in Bangalore known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its preeminent position as the nation's leading IT employer and exporter. His palette is vivid, utilizing unnatural colors more akin to advertising and the internet in an attempt to translate the speed and vigor of new urban India onto the canvas. As such he could be seen as a successor to the great painter of an earlier wave of industrialization in Europe Fernand Léger whose leftwing views, account of industry and love of cinema (Murali Cheeroth has a background in theatre and a interest in cinema) echo concerns of another era of rapid urban growth.
His work is included amongst others in the Frank Cohen Collection, Standard Chartered Bank Collection and the Deutsche Bank Collection
