Sketching people

I have been in the practise of doing art almost daily until and unless I am travelling. I like to paint more than I sketch but in the last couple of days I am sketching more because I have been travelling and all my supplies aren't easy enough to carry. And know what I am enjoying this process too!

People are one of the most interesting to observe. Sometimes our own detached selves! It is interesting not only to note the expressions and mannerisms but also the fact that what we perceive would be different from what they really are. Every person would have parallel stories taking place in their lives. Not all stories would be known to the people knitted in their lives; each story known perhaps to a certain number of the close ones alone. It’s amazing when you think how many stories are going on right at this moment in this whole world. Truth is stranger than fiction!

Except for the first and the last the rest are from life. The first one is a reproduction of Jenny Halstead which is the picture on my Derwent charcoal box. The last one is an image I came across in google. The rest from pictures I shot. I had bought a moleskine some 2 years back and wasn't brave enough to use it lest it should go wrong!! Finally, it's moleskine time! Second and third are on Derwent sketch book.

These are called E26 series named after the number of our residence in Dubai.

charcoal, pen and pencils

So, what's going on at your end? What do you like to capture? What do you carry while travelling - pens, pencils, paints?

I have just 9 more months

I have just 9 more months

until the nadir is upturned.

Revolutionaries build their castles

on distant islands, hoofed

among the strong forces of

Oceanic lands, where mirages

mirror one another

until it’s just one huge labyrinth

and the eye cannot see the truth.

Wandering aimlessly, fighting a vain war

often we end up on shores

seeking shelter, we assume it

houses just one for comfort

while invisible hands slice the throat

silently by night, relentlessly!

Muffled cries. Moans. Sighs.

But that’s just it...

I have just 9 more months

until the nadir is upturned

else death will dawn on all of us.

*Just a scarred story of a common soldier

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

Image courtesy here

Self and the Other

My series in my show 'Repercussions' which happened in October 2016 was all about duality showcasing the external and internal turmoil, implications, suffering, conflict and at times even submissive passivity while the lamp of hope is still lambent. It was a mix of abstract art and surreal images with concoction of Haiku poetry to sum it all. This painting is not from the series, but was painted during the course of it though.

"Sometimes you find yourself as a vessel of your different self. Duality always perplexes me (or for that matter, anyone sensible). It is such dualities that make and break us. It is such dualities which when confronted in life that carves a niche, a haven or an abyss. As much as one wants to avoid it, it keeps happening though. It is the unclear voice within oneself that directs the whole show feeling the reigns in the grip of supposedly strong and focussed hands and yet every turbulence happen. It’s quite inexplicable to fathom that, leave alone explain it to the world. It is one such life I am in!"

That's the character below speaking!

Self and the Other

Shadows, silhouette,

Dangled lives

Sometimes one,

Sometimes separate

Cobbled and torn out.

I perceive,

Sometimes try hard

To visualize what is

And what is not.

Kala Samuha - an art marathon

Srishti- creation - is the essence of art. Coincidentally, an art gallery and an institution bearing the same name co-hosted the event, Kala Samuha – an art marathon; an amalgamation of creatives. Srishti Outpost of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, stationed in Mill Hall in Mattancherry has been the venue of several events organized as part of the Collateral project of Kochi Muziris Biennale. It was co-hosted by Shrishti Gallery, Hyderabad under Lakshmi Nambiar. Around 100 artists’ took part to spur this creative force in the second week of February. Painting, installation, sculpture, video and performance art under one roof for 3 consecutive days. Each artist had 40 minutes to showcase his/her art. The aim to bring in more talents and project their creativity – for both art students and professionals alike. It was a platform to connect with different artists’ and different forms of creative expression.

A few pictures from Kala Samuha, courtesy Srishti Outpost page and the Curator Meena Vari.

Another event of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology's Video Vortex XI – Video in Flux: Art, Activism and Archives is happening from Feb 23^rd to 25^th in No.18 Hotel, Fort Kochi and Mill Hall Mattancherry.

Srishti's concept note reads as:

“Srishti Outpost @ Mill Hall is a space that masquerades as a classroom, a gallery and a community hall. It will focus on the performative, the playful and the process oriented while supporting the various positions of art making. Outpost @Mill Hall celebrates ‘Making, as an Expanded Form of Expression and Engagement’. The curated program overlaps and intersects in, material and mediums, Art & Science, traditional and contemporary as well as multiple associations and collaborations. The idea is to bring together artists, curators, theorists, technologists, traditional makers, and the local communities to interact, share and learn. ‘Outpost@Mill Hall’ will be a series of events; exhibitions, symposiums, permanent installations, workshops and a live makers’ space, will ensure a thorough involvement of audiences, both as participants, as well as spectators.”