K. Babu is spontaneous and offbeat. Ask him his inspiration and he instantly shares how a TV ad from the early 80’s was his first muse. “Tinku was the mascot in the ad and I found him interesting as a kid. The animated figure spurred me to draw a number of pencil sketches with Tinku as main character.”
Today, sitting inside his cramped studio, which is a creative chaos of colours, paints, brushes, canvasses and household items, he says he is clueless how he rose to become an artist of substance and calibre. Much of his ideas come from the cheery and chirpy childhood he had in the crowded stone-laid streets of Jaihindpuram in Madurai. The life and culture of the streets impacted Babu early on and its ramifications can be felt in all of his frames.
Anything from a simple apartment dwelling to a dog on the road and a current event attract Babu’s artistic instincts. Even mundane everyday happening is tweaked to give a different perspective to the spectators. “None of my works are direct on-the-face communications. I leave it to the audience to gauge. A painting gets fulfilled only when there’s a multiple reading,” says Babu, who doesn’t believe in giving his paintings labels or captions.
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As an undergraduate student in Chemistry, Babu went on to work at a book store in the city, where he found his calling.
“The Vaigai Art Society and Parinamigal used to conduct regular art expo and I went for one such expo where I happened to meet eminent artist M.G. Raffic Ahamed and that’s when I felt the need to nurture the artist in me,” says Babu. “I gave him few of my pencil sketches for feedback and was pleasantly surprised the next day to find them on display.”
From then on, there was no looking back for Babu’s artistic explorations. He was shortlisted for the Paris Biennale 1994, a meeting place for those who would define the art of the future. “It came as a big motivation for me,” smiles Babu. One of his paintings depicted a shepherd tied amidst a flock of sheep. Though it had political overtones the art attracted several critics.
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Babu is known for his black colour technique and figurative abstraction. He doesn’t experiment much with colours, but with figures. “I try to introduce new technique with each of my paintings.” Using dry pastel on black paper is something novel and not attempted much. Painting on transparent paper, using wood block technique and art from waste are some of his interest areas.
He uses cotton and knitwear wastes to do masks. His masks are different from the traditional masks that are convex in shape with openings for eyes, nose and mouth. His masks are flat surfaced relief structures. “Traditionally our paintings were two dimensional. If the artist tried to give a three dimensional effect to his work, then it becomes a sculpture. I crack the face and travel deep to understand different emotions,” he says.
A follower of French painter Henri Matisse’s concept of drawing with scissors, he uses the cut and paste technique to bring silhouette effect. His penchant for pencil sketches is quite evident from the fact that he uses it as the base to develop his art on bigger canvass. Babu feels only certain themes can be explored in mixed media. “For instance, the complexities of life can be done well in black and white sketches. Even there you use different shades of black and white to get the desired effect,” he says.
He has displayed his art works in several exhibitions organised by Lalit Kala Akademi. The akademi also bought his paintings thrice for its galleries across the country.
“Art is a passion for me and not something that I would use to earn a livelihood. To keep the art alive in me, I strike a balance between work and desire,” says Babu, who owns a screen printing unit in the city. Not a single painting of his carries his name as he firmly hopes that his style is distinct enough to identify him in the art world.