“The sculpture of the mermaid in the garden and Galileo in the science gallery; the busts of Aryabhatta, Aristotle and Copernicus; and the rain umbrella are among my creations at the Regional Science Centre & Planetarium, Kozhikode. My designation here is of a technician but drawing and painting were always an interest. I grew up in Vayalar and joined the planetarium after a painter’s course in ITI.
The profile basically involved painting exhibits but my interest in sculpture was encouraged by my superiors here. Now, I am working on a sculpture of Newton under the apple tree. The work will be done once I make the tree’s branches and wind up on the finishing touches.
I ventured into sculpting for a ‘Know your body’ exhibition conducted by the planetarium. I gained confidence when the exhibition went off well. I slowly began work on the mermaid, the medium was concrete. I have no formal training in fine arts and sculpting. I learnt along the way from books and people. I bought a book on human anatomy and learnt the correct body proportions a sculpture should possess. A sculpture gives the 3-D feel and it is imperative to get the proportions right.
When I was working with concrete, I would discuss a lot with my mason friends. They were my teachers; they taught me the right mix of concrete needed for sculpting and I would in turn give masons interested in doing artistic work my ideas. It was a healthy give and take.
Later, I moved onto fibre glass and that is the medium in which most sculptures at the planetarium are done. I am now learning to work with ferro cement. A friend of mine who makes sculptures in churches is guiding me.
Making the sculptures of scientists and thinkers mean I have to work without models. I mostly work with a photograph downloaded from the internet. Most of these were paintings originally and the artists usually painted seeking the subject’s appreciation. It is likely that the artist would not have highlighted the not-so-flattering features of the subject. So what I have as reference are paintings which are removed from reality. If you compare different paintings, you will see the same subject looks different in each one of them. The nose is the only feature likely to be depicted the same way. So when I see a painting or a photograph, I look around to see the people with similar face shape and structure. I try to see how their neck or their back of the head would be. The rest I use my imagination.
Newton under the apple tree is my master project till date. Working in a planetarium means I need different skills. The rain umbrella, for instance, also involves mathematics. My job requires me to blend artistic skills with good mathematics. The fact that I was a reasonably good student of maths helps.”
(A column on the men and women who make Kozhikode what it is.)
