KOCHI: Sarath S has been making art since he was a kid. He had won many accolades for his talent while in school. Now, the 23-year-old, who works at an advertising firm in Kochi, makes time to get creative about his favourite subject — movies.
More than the make and characters, what strikes Sarath the most is the juxtaposition of man and nature. All his art — of film stars or those with surreal undertones — share this common theme.
“I am always intrigued by this juxtaposition. Whenever I paint something — digital, oil or acrylic — it zeroes in on man and wild,” he quips. He makes them with an active imagination. “There’s no challenge in painting what is already around me. I wanted to add something unique and unfamiliar to make it interesting,” says Sarath.
His psychedelic works, with shimmering glimpses of nature, has vivid, neon colours. In one of the frames, a man resembling Sarath sleeps beside a dog on top of zestful leaves. His latest works also boast incredible colour schemes and emotions — most of them have characters from a particular movie, rather than a portrait of a movie star.
When he joined the College of Fine Arts Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, he saw his classmates dabbling in digital arts. “I really wanted to try my hand on it. But I didn’t have a system, not even at home,” says the Kollam native. He got one during the final year of his course. “From then on, I have been trying to find my own style. I dabbled in caricatures and other types of illustrations before I got here,” says the artist.
Horror seems to be one of Sarath’s favourite subjects. From demons from other cultures and movies to yakshi in a white saree, a morbid curiosity that connects nature with his darker subjects takes the centre stage in his works. Dark green, grey, red and blue — deep hues are his latest affection.
His love for digital art, however, doesn’t keep Sharath away from other mediums. He recently finished an acrylic painting on a big canvas. The painting portrays a bleeding heart in the wilderness, ripped open, revealing the pain of its bearer.