Get ringside seats to equine beauty with artist M Narayan

Get ringside seats to equine beauty with artist M Narayan

The thunder of pounding hooves, a blur of brightly-coloured jerseys, the initial closely-packed mass of horses and riders until one breaks free and gallops away. One can almost hear the tumultuous din come through in M Narayan’s pieces.

Though he is known today for his depiction of the equine form, Narayan says he found great satisfaction in capturing the everyday scenes of rural life. “Vegetable vendors, bangle sellers, the bright reds, blues and greens worn by people like me in the marketplace — they all were stored away in my sketchbooks,” he says.

He adds that it was in this milieu that he first sketched a horse pulling a cart, a simple tonga, and it marked the start of a lifelong passion. “I realised portraying these magnificent creatures made me extremely happy — the graceful neck, strong legs, powerful outline — I knew I would never tire of their beauty,” says the artist, who works with charcoals and watercolour pigments on paper and canvas.

While some of his works are a busy haze of shades, a few done in charcoal are more subdued with just a touch of colour; however, neither style detract from the action unfolding on canvas.

Originally from Kolar in Karnataka, Narayan relocated to Pune after the completion of his Fine Arts degree from the Ken School of Art in Bengaluru. “That was almost 30 years ago. A good friend of mine, PT Cherian, was instrumental in bringing me to Pune, even though he had no connection to the art field. I felt exposure in Mumbai or Pune would help me improve my work and bring me better exposure.”

Narayan says he was constantly drawing and would visit local stud farms to apply what he had learnt at art school. “I began to focus on different aspects of the horse’s body and learnt how to reproduce its movement, honing my skills.”

“Once, I was sketching in a mall in Pune and my images of horses caught the eye of business tycoon Jaydev Mody. He was so fascinated by my work, he picked them all,” says Narayan.