Nadees Prabou loves the street life. “When it rains heavily, I can’t help but start taking pictures capturing all those moments in a street. It beautiful to watch people walking under umbrellas, the reflection of light on the wet roads and how life takes cover when it rains,” he says. Recently, the Puducherry-based artist showcased his paintings at the Vinnyasa gallery in Chennai. Titled ‘Bridging the Gap’, the exhibition also had on display M F Husain’s limited edition prints.
What Prabou sees in street life is truly profound, while bursting with clarity. He began painting from a very young age when his parents discovered he had extraordinary talent in reproducing images he saw in life on paper. He went to a government school in Puducherry, where he won art competitions, something he continued to do consistently at college as well. Though he obtained a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree in 1998, in the third year of college itself, he managed to put together his first series on daily life, street activities and heavy summer rain on the streets. In some of his pictures, he adds the element of illusion as in the case of heavy summer rain which may be rare in Puducherry or Chennai.
Even today, Prabou is fascinated by the same subjects, though the humble form of transport—cycle rickshaw—seems to have caught his attention now. Ask him about it and he says, “I see a deep dark secret in the life of rickshaw pullers. There is a lot of black, brown and a hint of red in each of these portraits.”
Some people know him as ‘Watercolour Nadees’ and his work is becoming famous in Belgium, he says with joy and childlike exuberance. Since he sells every piece of his work, exhibitions don’t happen very frequently. What keeps him going is his freelance work in animation, something he learnt under pressure from his father who was keen he take up a job immediately after college.
Prabou is fascinated by the cows, chicken and dogs that walk on the roads along with people. This idea that he loves has been captured in a lot of his work, subtly and yet specifically. His paintings of Puducherry capture the quaintness of the city in its organic essence and flavour. He has also captured the light flow on buildings in an intricate manner, which makes his paintings look almost like high-resolution photographs.
He is among the very few watercolour artists who capture daily activities in street life with such clarity. In today’s fast-paced lifestyle dominated by app-and-GPS-enabled cabs, Prabou has captured that part of life which will eventually be relegated to a fond and nostalgic past.
Prabou says, “I get things on canvas that we may mostly complain about like crows’ nest on electric poles, jumbled wires, dogs crossing busy traffic, the strength of cows, labourers chatting at tea shops and people in different moods.” He says such imagery creates mood and illusion and that is what he loves the most about his work.
The artist has now made Chennai his home and hopes someday to do more abstract work, like MF Hussain. He’s in the process of setting up his studio in Puducherry and wishes to release a book of his artwork later this year, which would contain about 500 images on street life.
On a Roll
■ The artist recently showcased his paintings at the Vinnyasa gallery in Chennai.
■ His art exhibition titled ‘Bridging the Gap’, also had on display M F Husain’s limited edition prints.
■ Prabou is in the process of setting up his studio in Puducherry.
■ He wishes to release a book of his artwork later this year, containing about 500 images on street life.