Create art that defines you
[Music]
the journey started
with getting to know the subject of
calligraphy for the very first time
at the event calif 2008 conducted by
achook palace school of calligraphy
it was held at julia school of arts and
i remember
it was first of its kind exhibition in
india during those times
it was truly truly a mesmerizing feeling
for me
and looking at the amazing set of
artworks displayed at the exhibition
and the demonstration of paolo sir
himself i got this feeling
for the first time i want to do this
i guess that was my moment of epiphany
i had just completed my 10th grade back
then in fact my parents took me to this
exhibition
which i am eternally grateful about
looking at my interest getting developed
in this subject
they not only encouraged me to learn
this art form
but also enrolled me to the calligraphy
classes of sri lanka square research
which was located in the nearby facility
and that’s where my journey
of learning calligraphy actually started
later as i pursued my graduation from
sunset college of applied arts i have
got to know
and i learn various new subjects amongst
which was also typography and
calligraphy
in the course of four years i happened
to think of
ideas inclining towards calligraphic
executions
and it happened to me naturally am i
learning
any particular subject what
subconsciously happens to us
at the initial stage is we try to
um like adapt and
get close to the references we are
looking at right
that’s what we try to achieve at that
point in time but it looks like we are
copying or replicating
uh but the intention is always trying to
achieve the results
which are as close as possible to the
master’s work
of course that happened with me too
i was really fortunate enough to meet
professor vinay sanika sir
in the fourth year of my graduation he
was
one of the senior and most respected
professors
from jesus school of arts who came as a
visiting faculty for us
in that particular year to make the most
of his opportunity
i fondly showed him my calligraphic work
while i was expecting to receive
compliments from him
he did appreciate my work but most
importantly he asked me a question
and i must say that changed my entire
approach towards calligraphy
since then he asked me
in your assignments i could see the
influence
of the existing words of the master
category first
then what have you created of your own
in this
well i was taken aback and
it the question made so sense it was
actually a googly or a yorker
that i didn’t know how to play
but the question did stay with me for
much longer
since my childhood days uh actually i
have been
very fond of creating greetings for my
friends and my family
during birthdays or any special occasion
uh
most of my friends have also treasured
it till date
as i learned calligraphy and explored
its more styles i happened to create
calligraphic festive greetings
during those times since
signing the sword had asked me a
question and it stayed with me for
much longer every time i created a
festive greeting
i happen to think what is
unique that i am creating in this i
guess
that was my another moment of epiphany
when i started looking
at calligraphy with a new set of thought
process
while it had a calligraphic expression
it also had
a strong base of ideation in it
i took it as a project or a subject to
experiment
with the calligraphic forms and
eventually it became a wonderful passion
project for me
and it’s still going on it must be
somewhere around 2014
that i started creating this calligraphy
greetings
new set of thoughts and started putting
it on social media
my intention was quite clear instead of
just writing happy new year
or uh in a particular script or a style
i thought calligraphy can be used as
more of a visual form
to communicate let me share with you my
thought process by showing some of my
work
so you can understand and relate more to
it
you see this uh artwork on the slide
it is inspired by a guruji who who was
drawing
um a form of swastika on my uh on the
wall of my house during an auspicious
occasion and it rang the bell
it was my moment of eureka and i was
like why can’t this be called as
calligraphy
and i have it in my thoughts in this
festival i created
uh this greeting as ruthan varshavindan
which means
happy new year in the and i used a
medium as
kumkum and used my finger as a tool
it does create much difference and it
brings authenticity
to the entire image
next what i created in consecutive years
is the
critique of kodi again but as you see it
is
the letter in gudi padwa in a
conventional style but there is a form
of goody incorporated in it that made
much of a difference
and it is still being shared and
appreciated by much
many people that i know another attempt
of the same subject of kodi
you can see and it is
made as an illustration in the form of
the copper vessel
that is that we put on the top of the
kodi so even if the subjects
the subject remain the same even in the
consecutive years i tried to experiment
with the different forms similarly in
the festival of
diwali i happen to look after the
cultural aspects of it
and create festivities for the same
let’s have a look at it
in this particular art form uh you can
see the form of
diya being incorporated in the lettering
and you can you can see it’s a visual it
is not just written it
in the consecutive is there is another
attempt of writing
super deepavali as a same lecturing but
in the form of fire rifles
right it is there are so many aspects
that we
associate diwali with so i just try to
incorporate them in the festive
greetings
as you see ahead there are forms of diya
itself
in the festive greeting and the words
are also shubhadi bhavani
but it is very different from the
approach that i had before
so as it is an activity since past six
to seven years
my approach my learning my understanding
went
on um like improving and i created these
greetings
especially in last year when we all were
stuck at home
due to pandemic and we couldn’t meet
each other
our close ones or friends in this time
of pandemic
i thought to create a motion graphics
poster for the first time
which could bring joy and happiness to
people and not let the enthusiasm
of diwali get away let’s have a look at
this motion graphics poster
as you can see there has been a
thoughtful effort
made in experimenting with the forms
with the tools with the mediums with the
compositions
and it all had a different message a
different kind of
authenticity to share similarly uh there
are a few more greetings i would like to
share with you
that you can see in this greeting or for
independence day
it’s a form of a word in tri-color
and the tool used to draw it is the word
feather
we associate word with freedom with
independence
and it is coming out of the darkness so
it has a multiple
layers of ideation but the execution is
very minimal
just the form of a bird in as a
calligraphic stroke
in the tri colors drawn with the
bird feather and as you see this one
for makarsan karanthi it’s a festival
where we exchange sweets and say
uh so when i couldn’t meet anyone in
person
i thought i really want to share sweets
so how if i create a lettering
using the switch itself so i draw this
uh makar sankaranthi for reference and
then arrange
this terrible in a particular form that
it looks authentic
and also because it is a festival of
kites i happen to incorporate the word
happy and it has a very
wonderful illustration of a kind into it
similarly for pongal though it is not
the language that i am familiar with
i happen to experiment in the tamil
language
and give pong well wishes also
for the festival of rakshabandhan you
can see it is a form of
rakhi and it’s a sacred trait that
strengthens the relationship
the most affectionate relationship i
would say so it’s
rakshabandhan word written itself in the
form of rakhi
and this slide you can see the festival
of
eid where we are wishing to everyone
it has aspects of the culture and
the practices that they do so that was
another attempt
another you can see is the holy the
enthusiasm
the fun the joy of holi and saying holy
hey
that feeling like when i’m sharing the
visual with you you should
not just see the greeting you should
hear the greeting you should feel the
greeting
that has been an honest attempt all the
time and that you can feel with the
greetings for sure
another greeting that you you can see
right now is for teacher’s name
when uh the idea actually there is a
good story behind it that i was not able
to think of a good idea
for teacher’s day and on the morning of
september i happen to think of this one
line
that the journey from alphabets to
typography
couldn’t have been possible without you
which is true
absolutely true it came from straight
out of my heart
and i happened to make this particular
greeting
similarly along with festive greetings i
happened to create
tribute posts when we lost someone whom
i am very
like close to me or have been admiring
them the first one i created is
for as a tribute for dr apj abdul when
we lost him
and it was just two basic strokes which
is creating his identity
which is having no expressions because
no more
and this art was also um included in the
blog
which titled top 10 artists who gave
tribute
to apj abdul kalam from india
so that was a really a big moment for me
when it was nationally appreciated
in last year especially we lost so many
people
and due to pandemic it has created a
havoc
more than festive greetings i created a
tribute posts in that year
this one in particular was for someone i
really admire
and look up to dr rahab indori he has
been one of my favorite
writer and poets and when i heard the
news i happened to just
calling up this verse
foreign
it just came from heart to heart and
there are of course
many more of such which you can see on
my social media handles
in all these years it made me more
curious to look into the indian
tradition
and practices and the rituals that we
practice
it also gives you a learning that we do
have a huge treasure
of scripts and languages but it has not
been explored to its best potential
along with the caligraphic executions
what really made it my style
is having a strong base of ideation to
it
and most importantly i urge looking at
calligraphy
beyond just the art of beautiful
handwriting
and looking at it looking at it as a
visual language
to communicate and connect with the
audience
yes that’s what i feel calligraphy is
all about and
it became my way of staying in touch
with my people
and really creating a good body of
course
there have been occasions when i have
had tough times coming up with these
ideas
because it’s a recurring event every
year it’s not easy to work on the same
subject subject every time
so of course i face challenges coming up
with these sort of thoughts
also with the set of responsibilities
personally or professionally
it was difficult to balance to create
this particular greeting
timing has been the most crucial factor
here so
most of the times when i thought of an
idea it was too late to execute
but sometimes i made sure that i will
think of an idea prior and create these
greetings regardless of what and i will
share it in due time
because the importance of the reading
will stay if i share it with you on the
particular day
and a new point in time today if i don’t
post
the message or i don’t post it
on social media i get around eight to
ten messages from people
asking for i’m waiting for your post
where is it
because they really connect to the post
mode they
ask me that i want to share it to my
close ones and they wait
for uh sharing my creative itself
it really feels a good satisfaction and
i feel
this itself is an achievement when
people are eagerly waiting for your
artwork
what else do you need this brought me
a huge exposure in the industry and
brought me some good opportunities
working with
the finest advertising agencies brands
and clients
it also got me opportunities to conduct
workshops
at prestigious design institutions
and my work also got exhibited in
various
exhibitions internationally and
nationally
from the point of epiphany to the moment
of achievement
my journey completed a full circle
exactly ten years after when i was
invited
to take a workshop at california 2008
18 sorry at the california 18 conducted
by
school of calligraphy again and it was a
wonderful wonderful feeling for me
later in 2019 i got to share stage
with the masters i have always looked up
to
and it was a wonderful moment to be
as a panelist at the first national
calligraphy fest
held in kerala in this short period of
time
i was fortunate enough to get great
opportunities
but also it was a byproduct of working
with patients
and persistence amongst a lot of things
that i have learned in these years
i would like to share a few key points
from this talk
when you create a design think of the
context
and not just the content as an artist
don’t feel try to tell people what you
do but do tell it in a unique way
you will never find time to create
something
unless you make it a priority so make
sure that you
prioritize what you want to do as a
subject of
your work always remember
observation is the key so keep your eyes
wide open
all the time and most importantly
do look for references and inspirations
but create art that defines you