Art Meets Art : A Picture -Poem Duet ( A COVID19 Story)
COVID19 has changed our lives for good. Lives are at stake. Healthcare systems are being now stretched and tested, as more infections get reported. The new heroes wear sweat pants and shorts, not capes. They are the ones who stay at home and do not venture out.
While at home, some of us have found our lost causes, revisited our bucket lists, discovered and developed some of our hidden talents. One of my friends, Sridhar Ramachandran is a master militant at this. Based in Mumbai, he is a financial services and fund manager by profession.
In 2019, he donned another avatar — a fiction writer of a smash hit financial crime novel — ‘The End of the Saamba Dance’. He started writing the book during a car journey in 2019, and finished all the 50 chapters of the book in the next 50 days. Such prolific, consistent and disciplined writing, with a demanding job as CEO of a fund, is indeed a super human effort. Creativity laced with discipline is a corner stone of his success.
Well, let us save the story of ‘End of Saamba Dance’ for another day. There is another story to tell. COVID19 has brought forth another dimension of Sridhar.
Locked down at home since March this year, the video calls were making his day up. And for a restless and creative soul like Sridhar, the third dimension opened up — painting and sketching. Pencil Sketches, Acrylic, and Oil on Canvas are some of the genres he has explored during the COVID19 lockdown days.
Here is a sample which he shared with me when we started talking about his paintings.
I looked at this painting and was amazed. The detailing of the butterfly’s feathers, the richness and combination of colors were intricate — ‘this gentleman has an eye’, I thought. He was nonchalant when he told me that he has done about 90 paintings and sketches in the lock-down period.
I was not expecting this showcase of paintings to explode on me. Over that week, we had exchanged notes as published authors ( and I as a poet), and financial services professionals.
Few days ago, Sridhar unleashed a set of sketches and pictures on me. Here was the second one — an acrylic on canvas painting of an adult and its calf. Detailing of the leaves and the skin texture of the elephants, and the calf trying to reach out the adult are some of the noticeable intricacies of this painting.
Curious as I was, the poet in me woke up, inspired. I responded with the poem below.
When the invisible microbe created chaos and panic,
You created this paint in acrylic,
Of forests and elephants -one young and small,
The other one walking proud and tall.
In the deep foliage of the jungle,
The young one tries to hold but bungles,
While you have discovered this talent anew,
A good show of this artist in you!
Those were the first salvos at each other — the painter and the poet.
Then came the second barrage of three art pieces. Here are they:
Sridhar says that he works like a militant — with high level of discipline and commitment every day to meet his day’s painting and sketching goals.
Back to the second set. The sketches and painting deserved a poetic response. I still had not asked him source of visualization — whether he replicates, or he imagines. That is a question he will answer in due course, I presumed.
And here was my response to his second salvo of creative imagination.
When COVID locked us down,
I looked within without a frown.
And discovered that I still had a crush,
For my pencil and the paint brush,
From a girl painting a heart,
To a coastal sunset,
From an orange sky at the day’s start,
I painted till my trembling hands let,
A purpose did I find,
As COVID still tests mankind,
Look within I would say,
And make the best of each day!
Both the poems were responses to the master pieces, but in reality, the theme was to find inspiration from within oneself — reflecting Sridhar’s persona.
It was time for Round 3. This time it was water color on paper, titled ‘ Young Monks Bonding’. If it was imagination, that it was vivid indeed. If it was a replication, then it was great imitation. I still did not ask him his source.
I loved this one. The shades of saffron and orange, the shadows and the birdies in the air and on the ground were all painted using water color on paper.
A poetic response was par for the course.
When scriptures meet the innocent
Boundaries melt through bonds
Even discipline is fun
With Smiles and laughs,
Hugs and embraces,
Young minds like tethered colts,
Bound but not attached
Bonded yet free
Getting a birds eye view
Of this earthly and higher life,
Like the birdies on the ground,
And the ones hovering!
Now, things were heating up. COVID19 had disappeared from the conversation. By now, it was an artist inspiring a poet. A picture was inspiring the few words.
The fourth round was a chore. At the end of day, I was expecting Sridhar to share his day’s magic. Indeed, they did come. This time — fluorescent lines on dark background, acrylic on canvas. ‘The man is conjuring magic’, I thought.
Fluorescent lines on black paper was a new style. I was thrilled. And here went my response.
Is Beauty in the eye of the beholder?
The brush speaks and the eye receives
Seemingly random lines
Curved and interlaced
Creating a mystery at first
Playing with the mind.
Is it the Acacia tree’s
Twig and leaves? or
Is it a volcano overflowing
With streams of fire and ice?
The neurons awake
And forms the images
The first one is a zebra
If we look in close,
And the second is a damsel
In an arching pose.
And there lies the beauty of duality
It is not the eye,
But the mind of the beholder,
That captures the magic of the brush.
The fourth round seemed to increase the complexity of art — both in picture and in words, as they explore a new style with a newer interpretation — duality of view.
As I was wrapping up this blog, Sridhar offered me all the paintings in his attic. I surrendered to the relentless and prolific explorer of art in this tumultuous times. I will still write poems for some of his pictures, but this show is clearly Sridhar’s.
Discipline, creativity and talent reinforce each other. Magic is a byproduct of such an enterprise. I am sure Sridhar is now onto another master piece, again, and again.
PS: All pictures, book cover page and art pictures are Copyrights of Sridhar Ramachandran @2020.
To enjoy more of my Poetry, you can pick a copy of my book Poetarrati Volume 1 & 2. Volume 1 is an anthology of poems inspired by daily events, emotions, people and pictures. Volume 2 is a epic narrative sequence of poems, forming the basis of a story of unrequited love between the poet and a fictional character called ‘Angel’.
US Edition paper back: https://amazon.com/dp/1097682277
US Edition Kindle: https://amazon.com/dp/B087V5ZLHC/
India Edition Kindle: https://amazon.in/dp/B087V5ZLHC/
India Print Edition in Amazon: https://amazon.in/Poetarrati-1-2-Ashok-Subramanian/dp/1648990452/
India Edition Paperback: https://notionpress.com/read/poetarrati
