“We are in the middle of making floats for the Onam procession. As you can see it’s all a mess...a lot of things have been dumped here.” Artist-sculptor C.B. Jinan is apologetic as he shows me around the the place in Balaramapuram where craftsmen are hard at work on the floats. Some of them are clearing the undergrowth, while several other young men are busy working on iron frames, foam, newspaper and artificial leaves. In one corner a larger-than-life bird is taking shape and in other a rock is being made out of foam.
Across the road is a building where Jinan and his partner, Binu Haridas, run the office of their company, Shadow Group. The room is stacked with huge bundles of foam. Iron frames have been unloaded in front of the complex and welding is in progress.
Time is of the essence here as the cultural pageantry, which marks the culmination of the week-long Onam celebrations organised by the state government, is just a couple of weeks away. This year too Jinan and his team are making floats for various public sector organisations for the procession. “We are crafting 15 of them,” he says, while attending to some phone calls, in between. As prizes are given to the best floats, he refuses to divulge details about the themes.
“The first thing we make is a huge frame to cover the driver’s cabin of the vehicles on which the floats are transported during the procession. That portion will be part of the design. Earlier we used to get wheeled chassis on which the designs were mounted, but now we have to accommodate them on the truck itself,” he says.
The finished designs will be kept in a vacant plot nearby until they are ready to be transported to the city in trucks.
Pioneer in the field
For the past two decades he has been at the forefront of making three-dimensional figures and scenes for cultural processions, art work for mega stage events, statuettes, mementos, concrete statues... “My studio used to be near the College of Fine Arts, my alma mater. But once we started getting more work, we moved to Balaramapuram, my home town. I found plots where we can carry out welding work, carpentry, assembling of various parts and also store the raw materials,” says Jinan.
C.B. Jinan and Binu Haridas (left)
Unlike the colourful floats in the making, the office room is minimalistic, with just a table and a few chairs. There is a picture of Lord Ganesha on another table. “Everyday we light a lamp in front of it and we start a new project with a pooja. All my projects are done in consultation with Binu. We have known each for the last 25 years. Once we get a subject, we sit down to discuss various aspects, share our ideas and debate a lot. All that obviously help us to come up with a better result. The brainstorming sessions can go on for hours. Earlier we made designs on the paper and made changes as and when needed, which was a laborious process. Now we use 3D images and that makes our work easier. We have 30 labourers and we are with them day and night, especially when we have deadlines to meet. My younger brother C.B. Jigish is also part of my team,” he adds.
Milestones
While they work with concrete and bronze for permanent structures, foam and plaster of Paris are usually used to make temporary figures and art work.
Jinan’s milestones have been many — the sculpture garden and dinosaur park at Thenmala, the Kuravan-Kurathi statues at Ramakkalmedu, art work at the Kerala pavilion at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) in New Delhi, the statue of Bharata Muni at Guru Gopinath Natanagramam, Vattiyoorkkavu, the Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda Museum at Thaikkattuserry in Thrissur, to name a few. Last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia he gifted a gold-plated replica of the Cheraman Jama Masjid to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which was crafted by Jinan and his team.
“Each project is a learning experience for me. When people appreciate our art, that gives me a lot of positive energy,” says Jinan, who has won nine gold medals for the Kerala pavilion at the IITF. Once they finish work on the Onam floats, they will move to New Delhi to work on the designs for this year’s edition of the IITF. “The theme is Startup India and we need at least two months to get the pavilion ready.”
Looking back, Jinan says he is happy with the way his life has been shaped. Inclined to fine arts from a young age, he can’t thank enough artist Kaladharan who advised him to study art and his professor, Kesavankutty, who encouraged him to take up sculpture. “I am on long leave from my post as taxidermist at the Natural History Museum in Thiruvananthapuram. Had I continued with the job, my life wouldn’t have been this exciting. Now, each work is a challenge and a practice in itself. Of course, it is heartbreaking when we have to demolish some structures and designs after an event. Several hours of hard work turn into scrap within minutes. But that’s part of what I do and I have learned to live with that.”
A series that explores the workspaces of creative people in the city and its suburbs
