I don’t really like to use this word ‘kitsch‘ to describe my work. But the press has done quite a job naming it so. I am going with the flow here…
It started with one kettle – ‘The Kiss Kettle‘. And I was hooked. My mind was full of a multitude of ideas just waiting to be painted. I could not get them out fast enough. Each piece is an individual and one-of-a-kind piece. And each has a story or a specific thought attached to it. I repeat a theme but never the same piece.
People have always told me to put a ‘kaala teeka’ on my kids…that’s where the idea of the ‘Nazar battoo’ kettle was born. ‘Singh is King’ kettle was born out of the fact that I am half a sardarni married to a sardar, my son wears a ” Singh is king’ t-shirt bought from Amritsar, the movie came out, and I conducted a session for Bangalore Walks on Sikhism for their ‘Living faiths of India’ walk. The ‘Levitate’ balti was the result of my talking to a friend who owns a store called Levitate..
The traditional way…
I started the traditional way with oils.. but it just took too long to dry. The purists would say that to be an artist you have to be able to use oils and use them well. I tried, and I was happy with the results.
By the way, my dad is ex-Indian Air Force and as a result, I have had the privilege of traveling through pretty much the length and breadth of this wonderful country. But, my stay at Barmer was the best, the colours still stay with me and I guess always will!
Immediate satisfaction
Chalk pastels are the BEST! It’s like drawing in colour.
I have to thank the late art critic Krishna Chaitanya for insisting that some day I use them. He had given me this advice at my exhibition in 1994 when he saw a few faces that I had done using coloured pencils.
Thank you, sir.
Ink blobs
My start into pen and ink was purely accidental. I was in Barmer, Rajasthan and frustrated with waiting for an oil painting to dry. I started scribbling with ink, added some ink blobs, smudged them around and voilà I had a wonderful painting. I love the immediacy of the pen and inks, does not take too much time to do or dry. But it is a whole lot more difficult, as it is probably the least forgiving of all the mediums. As in, one mistake and
My start into pen and ink was purely accidental. I was in Barmer, Rajasthan and frustrated with waiting for an oil painting to dry. I started scribbling with ink, added some ink blobs, smudged them around and voilà I had a wonderful painting. I love the immediacy of the pen and inks, does not take too much time to do or dry. But it is a whole lot more difficult, as it is probably the least forgiving of all the mediums. As in, one mistake and its gone. Next to impossible to correct. I start with a preliminary sketch and then start inking.