Sivakumar could have not fallen in love. He could have kept trying his hand at a variety of odd jobs and remained a face in the crowd. But life had some other plans – it introduced him to his life partner and what would become his profession – art.
“There’s no connection between me and art in any way,” says Sivakumar, at his wall/gallery space Ashvaa Arts, in Vijay Food Court, Cantonment. The son of a timber merchant from Keeranur, Sivakumar came to Tiruchi for his high school studies.
He fell in love with Premalatha, the daughter of a loadman, who was working at a store when he was a salesman.
Their marriage isolated them from their respective families, to the point where Sivakumar was compelled to stay at home and take care of his wife after she underwent a difficult Caesarean section delivery.
“People usually complain about art being a tough field to survive in, and drop out. In my case, I came to art because I was in difficulty – I had to eat,” says Sivakumar.
He had a novel strategy in his quest to be taken seriously as an artist – he’d frequent building sites to familiarise himself with the interiors and possibilities for artwork contracts.
“It was a long process, of over a year and half, to meet people who were willing to trust me to deliver the goods, because I had no formal degrees to show off,” he recalls.
Already skilled in portraiture, Sivakumar got his first break by setting up a stall at an architecture exhibition in 2010.
The very first painting he made, of Jesus Christ, was for a grocer, who offered to buy it for Rs.1000, considerably lower than the Rs.20,000 he had hoped to get. “Still, it was a start, and it made me slightly confident about getting into art full-time,” says Sivakumar, whose work samples can also be found on his Facebook page.
His money-spinning idea at the mini gallery, is portraits done in 15 minutes. “The price is based on the number of faces to be drawn,” he says.
“I don’t alter any natural feature, because a face is God-given. I do touch up the greys in the hair, on request, and also change the attire of the subject.”
Sivakumar is partial to the embossed effect produced by the palette-knife painting, though he has taught himself to work with a number of media – from pencil to charcoal and oil paints.
With over 200 portraits of mall visitors in his portfolio, Sivakumar says the other subject that interests people is famous city landmarks, such as the Rock Fort.
“The lack of a forum for artists working in Tiruchi has kept many away from making it a full-time profession,” he says.
“But there is a gap in the marketing of local work that needs to filled. Buyers, particularly those who can invest in art, should stop purchasing cheap reprints, and instead encourage original artwork.”
And what of the love that brought him to art?
“My wife has been my sincerest supporter,” he says. “There were days when the little money we had was spent on art materials rather than food, but she never gave up – on me or my art.”
Dismissing formal art education as a “useful visiting card, but not really necessary,” Sivakumar dreams of owning his own studio/gallery one day, and teaching senior citizens to rediscover the joy of painting.
