Artist Ganesh Doddamani on his series ‘A sense of the land’

Inspired by petrichor, the upcoming exhibition at MKF Museum of Art, Bengaluru, is a riot of colours and expression

Despite its rather insipid name, nothing revitalises the soul as petrichor — the smell of rain on dry, parched land. For artist Ganesh Doddamani, the invigorating scent jolted him out of the ‘artist’s block’ he was stuck in and inspired him to start painting again. “I started working in 2000 after my Masters from Shantiniketan in West Bengal. I was captivated with the Buddha and most of my works were busts of the Buddha in pretty, pastel shades that exuded a sense of calm,” says Ganesh, who was working in Bengaluru at the time. “After a while, I realised that my work did not reflect the teachings and thoughts of Buddha. I was unable to express my thoughts or feelings and in an attempt to break that impasse, I experimented with colours and medium, working on landscapes, abstracts and other art forms, to no avail,”