Beauty Isn’t The Point, a solo show of non-objective works by Chennai-based painter RB Murari at Chitrakala Parishath, invites visitors to pay attention to what they feel as they spend time with each canvas. Rather than depicting a specific figure, landscape or symbol, these paintings take shape in colour, grids, curves and textures that read like visible traces of a private, emotional instinct.
Letting the visuals speak for themselves
For Murari, the purpose of the work was not to craft something that was conveniently beautiful; he wanted each piece to evoke an emotion that quietly resonated with the viewer. “The world is filled with tons of stories; all I am saying is that these are the spaces before language starts,” explains Murari, talking about the showcase.
An artwork from the show
The works themselves are thickly worked surfaces, scratched and drawn into, creating a sense of restless movement, with underlying grids and compartments hinting at a structure that tries to contain that energy.
Repeated motifs are found across the canvas, almost building a rhythmic flow, a state echoed in his earlier works. The palette shifts from earthy reds and browns to flashes of neon and metallic tones; the artist’s focus is not a narrative or figuration, but on using the paintings as a channel for much darker, private moments.
A legacy of art, and a break from it
Murari is no stranger to the world of art — his grandfather, S Dhanapal, was a seminal sculptor who helped shape the Madras Art Movement, and his father, RB Bhaskaran, is a prominent figure on the Indian art scene. With Beauty Isn’t the Point, Murari takes a bolder, edgier approach to work that is somewhat distant from his roots.
He uses painting as a way to pour out emotions, working whether he is happy, bored or even feeling dull. With this showcase, he brings out more instinctive thoughts through explorations of the internal self as he “plays” on the canvas.
Artist RB Murari
“The point is that you don’t have to understand it; just be with a painting and it will speak to you.” He recalls his interaction with a young girl, where she pointed out that one of his works resembled an elephant, with its prominent ears and trunk, while her mother said it looked more like Lord Ganesha. Art, he says, is about the discovery and connections you make with each piece.
After Beauty Isn’t the Point, Murari hopes to increase the scale and ambition of his canvases, building on the foundation laid by earlier exhibitions in India and abroad. As he looks ahead, his aim is simple: to make art he enjoys, and let that emotional honesty gradually carry his work ahead.
Beauty Isn’t the Point by RB Murari is on display at Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru till December 14
Published – December 12, 2025 06:39 pm IST
