Keralites and nature lovers have an opportunity to witness the beauty of God’s own country here in Chennai. They need not go to a Malayalam movie to watch the beautiful lake surrounded by luscious green trees and the Kerala’s own backwaters. All these are available at the Russian Cultural Centre.

Landscape paintings of Kerala by artist Eby N. Joseph are displayed, under the title, Kerala Darsanam. The exhibition, which is conducted along with Russian Centre of Science and Culture, is being held up to February 24.

There are 29 paintings exhibited, each portraying Kerala’s beauty in a unique way. Each one actually takes us to the original place. Some paintings even resemble a high resolution image. One such is the painting of Bolgathy palace, where the artist has drawn the golden rays of the sun falling on the entrance of the house, making it bright and realistic.

Similarly, another painting depicts a Cochin market, where an old lady is seen selling fish. The artist has named her Kausalya (79) and those who look at this particular painting would be spellbound by its realism.

The other paintings which grab the viewer’s attention are the old man smoking a cigarette, the huge lake and the boat, the high range water falls, the fort of Cochin and the beautiful Munnar. The prices range from Rs 10, 000 to Rs 60, 000.

All the paintings, despite their variation in sizes are of acrylic colours.

The artist, Eby N. Joseph says that acrylic colours dry quickly, as it is a fast medium. However, the oil painting is artist friendly as improvements can be made and mistakes could be rectified. He said that till now, he had painted 792 paintings on the landscapes of Kerala. “My target is to touch one thousand. Once I reach it, I would concentrate on the landscapes of the entire India, which would include folk and festivals of Tamil Nadu, the colourful clothes, camel, castles and forts of Rajasthan and of course, the Himalayas”.

The artist is also an expert in drawing portraits, which he would finish in 45 minutes. However, at this exhibition he has no plans of drawing them, except for a few special guests.

Apart from being his home town, is there any other special reason for choosing Kerala? Without hesitation, he says that the state of Kerala is known for its geographical diversity. For example, Alappuzha is known for the world famous back waters. Similarly each and every place has some speciality. The biological diversity is also very important in Kerala, which comprises of plants, trees, animals and insects. “Landscape is the metaphor of Kerala”, he says.