Of art installations and torn canvases: Art director and artist Shanoo Muralidharan talks about her passion for colours
CHENNAI: As the city awaits the release of Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan, Shanoo Muralidharan joins the tribe to witness her work as an assistant art director on screen. As a self-taught artist who has more than seven years of expertise in the production and development of art and media in diverse contexts, the film is her first large project.
“Working for such a huge set was an unforgettable experience. Like everyone else, I am also waiting to see the result on screen,” says Shanoo. Keeping the excitement aside, she gives us a peek into her journey filled with colours, brushes and artistic strokes.
.jpg?w=640&auto=format%2Ccompress)
Venturing into the passion
Visual artist, production designer for theatre and cinema, and co-founder of Porul Restored, a company that sells eco-friendly home décor — Shanoo is a multifaceted creator. She also works as an independent artist.
Her recent installation of cubical box frames that hold curled coiled wires, all hanging on a single string is based on the devastating floods in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in the past years. “It is an interactive art installation. The audience is a major part of the art. You have to switch on your torchlight to create shadows and view the final image,’ shares Shanoo.
As a native of Chennai, she draws inspiration from her upbringing in Cuddalore and uses elements from her urban life to give texture to her artwork.
“I always liked to play with colours. Growing up in Cuddalore in an agricultural family, I developed an understanding of rural tones. The browns, oranges and reds of a normal household in a village of Tamil Nadu resonate in most of my paintings,” she explains. These observations helped her in the film Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu to create an almost surreal colour palette for a Tamil Brahmin household.
Curating art
Abstract painting is her labour of love. Her house is adorned with various ongoing abstract series to which she will keep adding. As an ode to ‘Women in art’, her series of abstract paintings of women from her daily life, she drew their faces and turned them into a photography series on her Instagram. Her most favourite works are the ones made on torn or damaged canvases, which she calls ‘Band aid’.
She deliberately buys the torn canvases discarded by shops and rectifies the damage through her art. “I like the torn canvas sheets. They were not just plain sheets of canvas, but they had character. Each sheet was different with a rip or a crack or some kind of damage. And every time I found new ways to work with it and incorporate the damage as part of the artwork.
I found ways to bring in new mediums to work with and patch the holes, adding layers of colours and textures to the dead canvas, breathing colours and life into it. This series was the start to my journey towards upcycling and reusing, and is close to my heart,” she says.
She began one-line drawings as an experiment project during the pandemic. This involves drawing the faces of people in one go, without lifting the brush from the canvas. Slowly, she incorporated Tamil calligraphy into her paintings — making one-line portraits from Tamil scripts. “This series is for my younger self. As a dyslexic kid, this was how I used to see the alphabets, with colours and images,” she shares.
Shanoo wants to keep experimenting on the canvas and emphasises on enjoying the process of creation, rather than the outcome. “I think that is my motto in life; to enjoy the process and not to worry about the results,” she signs off.
Visit @shanoomuralidharan_ on Instagram