City canvas

From planting a life-sized crocodile in the middle of the road to creating quirky installations around potholes, this artist uses his creativity to great effect.

MAKING A SPLASH: The life-size crocodile installed around a pothole in Bengaluru (top); Baadal Nanjundaswamy (right)

Artists, over the years, have used unusual materials to paint on. One such genius is Baadal Nanjundaswamy from Mysuru, Karnataka. Baadal’s canvas can be a pothole on a street, a wall, a broken side walk, or even rubbish lying on the street. An amazing painting by this artist is that of Yama, the god of death, on a street in Bengaluru.

Baadal painted the face of Yama around an open manhole on the street. The god of death has wide eyes and a long curling moustache. He wears a golden helmet. His mouth is the scary black manhole waiting to gobble up passers-by who don’t watch where they are going. It makes sense because open manholes are dangerous. People have fallen into them and died. The painting went viral on the Internet. It was seen by the office responsible for maintaining the streets of the city. The city authorities promptly closed the manhole and made it safe for people to use the street again.

Art for change

This painting is important because the artist used his creativity and humour to great effect, instead of making an angry protest. The artwork helped make the city a better and safer place. Also, the art is free for everyone to look at, and enjoy.

As a child, Baadal read comic books such as Amar Chitra Katha, Archie, and Disney comics. He learnt how to use colours by looking at the pictures in the comics. You can notice that in the bold, bright colours he uses to paint in.

With your parent’s permission, you can view other paintings and street art by Baadal Nanjundaswamy on his Facebook page.