The Open Studio / Leela sivani chellapilla
Leela sivani chellapilla
Conceal
An octopus holds a golden fruit while a face sleeps below
Blue water, so deep it turns almost black at the top.
An octopus spreads its arms like slow roads.
One arm lifts a yellow fruit toward a light we cannot see.
Below, a face sleeps with its eyes shut.
White dots on a dark band, soft blue feathers, one round shining eye.
Something is kept safe here. Something is kept hidden.
The work
Leela Sivani Chellapilla paints in oil. She studied at Andhra University and is based in Bangalore. In her work, plants and animals stand in for human feelings, instincts and habits. Conceal is oil on canvas, 91 × 60 × 2 cm. A large octopus fills deep blue water. Its arms curl around a golden fruit. Near the bottom, a pale face rests with closed eyes, half hidden among blue feathers and dark spotted shapes. Chellapilla asks us to see ourselves inside nature, not outside it.
- Theme
- Instinct and hiding
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 91 × 60 × 2 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Andhra university
- From
- Banglore
- Code
- RC-634
In the artist’s words
Art, for me, is not merely a practice of rendering visual forms; it is a vital mechanism of translation. It is the tangible externalization of the silent dialogues, philosophical inquiries, and psychological comparisons that continuously move through my consciousness. Working primarily in the rich, tactile medium of oil, I dedicate my creative inquiry to exploring the complex, often fragile relationship binding human behavior to the natural world. My canvases draw their foundational inspiration from nature, yet I approach it not merely as a scenic subject to be replicated, but as a deeply symbolic language—a lexicon through which the nuances of the human condition can be closely examined. Within my compositions,…
