CHENNAI: Walking into the Soul Spice Art Gallery just as the sunlight faded outside, the interior was a sharp contrast with rows of kaleidoscopic paintings, a source of light on its own. The canvases belong to local artist Shivaram’s latest collection, aptly titled the ‘Vibrant Series’ and are meant to be a tribute to Tamil Nadu’s vast culture, featuring everything from Jallikattu to holy deities. In fact, I’ll take a gamble that you would have already seen some of his best work, considering that they adorn the walls of the Chennai domestic airport. “I want to capture the essence of Tamil Nadu in my paintings. When they commissioned my work for the airport, they asked me if there were enough cultural depictions to fill all the walls. I told them there were enough local art forms to fill even 800 walls, we just aren’t familiar with them,” says Shivaram.
With an art process that consists of taking only a day or two to complete a painting, it’s no surprise that there are over 100 pieces to this collection. But even among a hundred, his signature style of only using lines in a painting stands out immediately. “The truth is that I could never get my curves right so I broke them up into lines to practice. Now it’s uniquely mine, so much so that, I would even call it the ‘Shivaram Style’,” he says with a smile. Textures also seem to play a key role in the series with Shivaram getting creative with household items such as an Aavin milk packet, fruit packaging and tiles to name a few.
A self-taught artist who draws inspiration from the street plays and dance performances he attended as a child, he recalls memories of spending many an evening in his hometown of Kanyakumari doodling away what he saw, on the ground. “I have a string of relatives from Kanyakumari to Chennai and I always make sure to see what is happening locally when I visit. I’ve never had a formal art education and all my art comes from experience and constant practice,” he adds.
Working strictly with only acrylics, his colour palette for the ‘Vibrant Series’ screams of bright greens, yellows, pinks and purples. “Colours are powerful and I don’t prefer to mess with them by diluting or mixing them. Rather, I respectfully slather them on the canvas, directly as they come,” he says. When quizzed on his preference of acrylic over oil, he jokes, “I think oil paints are more like having a wife and acrylics are a friend. With oil, you just have to co-operate and go along with it, but acrylics, you can throw around a bit and they still happily work with you.” Looking forward to a new challenge in the new year, he’s decided to switch it up in 2020 by adopting a darker colour palette or an English palette as he calls it, with blacks, blues and greys.
Taking to painting as a visual record of cultural forms otherwise forgotten, Shivaram’s philosophy for art is a simple one — create and encourage others to create as well. “It’s imperative that children are encouraged to pursue art. I’ve seen it help them in a holistic sense even if they choose to follow other careers,” he stresses. With his passion for spreading the message evident, I ask him if art has made him a better person. “It makes me peaceful and that’s all I need,” he says with a twinkle in his eye and just for a second, you can see where his paintings get their vibrancy from.
On display at the Soul Spice Art Gallery till December 26.