A quirky take on ‘book covers’

Sivakrishnan K.M. at his exhibition titled ‘Bukstall’ at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi art gallery in Kozhikode. Photo: Aabha Anoop

At first, one would not find anything extraordinary while browsing through a series of book covers exhibited at the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi art gallery in Kozhikode as part of the exhibition titled ‘Bukstall’ by Sivakrishnan K.M.

They seem like covers of books on topics as diverse as philosophy, children’s literature, health, beauty, politics, and anything under the sun or even beyond it. But the names of the authors are not familiar, neither are the publishers. The titles are quirky and sharp, often thought-provoking or humorous. “Are there even such books in this world?,” one would think.

It is indeed difficult to imagine that someone would create such a lot of book covers for the sake of art, and not for any real publisher who would pay for them. “The success of art is when it makes you misunderstand. You see a play and misunderstand it for reality. You see paintings and do the same, when they are just artistic creations, twice removed from reality. I have done the exact thing. You are supposed to misunderstand and think that these book covers are real,” Mr. Sivakrishnan told The Hindu .

240 covers

The 240 book covers were created in one and a half months, just for fun. Mr. Sivakrishnan is a retired, national-award winning teacher from Kathiroor in Kannur district. He learned the Photoshop software from his own students and kept experimenting with it. When he stumbled on some random photographs, he developed ideas on them, and created book covers using them. The photographs were accentuated by appropriate titles and authors — most of whom were fake — and fake publishers.

For example, there is a “book” titled ‘Uthishtatha Jagratha’ written by ‘Vivek Chicago.’ Anyone with an interest in history can easily connect it to Swami Vivekananda and his historic speech at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago. The cover photo is that of two children seen scared to jump into the water. Their position reminds one of the four lions on the Ashoka Pillar.

The names of the authors and publishers connect with the photograph and the topic discussed in some manner or the other. In fact, each cover has a story behind it. The artist’s opinion on a given subject is reflected in the design.

The exhibition is a homage to artist K. Sankaranarayana Marar, a book cover designer.

It will conclude on February 5.