Sachin Samson is constantly moved by the everydayness of life. The visual artist carries his sketchbook with him at all times and fills it with portraits of the ordinary people he encounters on the streets and in public spaces. “These are real people and I am curious about their stories,” he says.
The sketches he has made so far will culminate in a larger series, “The Common Man of India”, which he is working on. Outside the Vasco Home Stay in Fort Kochi is a mural by him, which depicts an old man dressed in a checked lungi, shirt and a thorth tied around his forehead. “A lot of people who saw that work knew the man whom I had painted. They could connect with my art instantly.” Sachin says his visual language is inspired by real stories and experiences. Therefore he goes about immortalising ‘ordinary’ people on city walls and inside five-star properties.
Murals that speak
Sachin’s works for commercial spaces have won him praise. One of his first works was for Hyatt in Hyderabad, where he painted a gigantic mural that covered an entire wall and spread half way on to the ceiling. He speaks fondly of it: “I brought in elements of fantasy and surrealism. It was the story of a male warrior.” He took over six months to complete it. Many of his murals are on display at the Port Muziris Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Nedumbassery, where he paints the city through its people and its ecosystem.
Mural painting is physically demanding, says Sachin. He uses a scaffolding to paint the heights and sometimes, takes the help of an assistant. However, he isn’t concerned about mistakes. He starts with a line, which grows in number and intersects and gradually creates forms. “Every mistake creates a new set of possibilities.”
Though from Kochi, Sachin is based in Bangalore. He started as an art director in an ad agency, but the routine of the job lacked the creative satisfaction he was looking for. He quit, started travelling and sketching along the way. “I was, in a way, developing a set of skills. Sketching is the initial point. The more you sketch, the more you learn.”
Sachin loves to work with charcoal. “It is a rustic material, it creates a lot of textures.” Many of his works are in single colour in myriad gradients.
“The fun part of being an artist is that you get to play around with materials and surfaces. I use a lot of fixative spray in my works, as it lends a special character to it.” While he calls his craft traditional, he likes to tinker with technology.
A Communication Design student, he was always surrounded by art as a child. “It was so much a part of my childhood that I cannot differentiate art from real life,” he says. Sachin’s father, a professor of Zoology at the Sacred Heart College, Thevara, was an artist and encouraged Sachin’s innate interest in it.
He dabbles in sculpture, installations and digital art as well. “People’s attitudes towards art has changed and it is no longer confined to gallery spaces. It is very much in the public eye. It connects people, it sparks conversations...it can affect people just as how film and music can.”
Sachin is currently working on a solo show.
