A treat to the eyes

KOCHI: “When I was two, my parents noticed a sketch of mine. Realising my interest in art, they bought a drawing kit. Ever since, I’ve been drawn to art,” says 21-year-old Arjun Kutty, a Thiruvananthapuram-based artist.

His paintings challenge real images. According to Arjun, he selects pictures from Pinterest. “There are thousands of pictures available on Pinterest, but I select pictures with emotions,” says Arjun. “Pictures with emotions are better for drawing as it speaks directly to the viewer. It sometimes conveys a certain message viewers can relate it to,” he says. He draws the picture and later paints it using the grid method. 
“I trained under Sreenivasan sir since Class VII for nine years.

I’ve always admired him. His works inspire me to keep drawing,” he says. Later he began learning the art on his own.  Artists on YouTube and Instagram inspired him. Other than Sreenivasan, the artists who have influenced Arjun include American artist Heather Rooney, Brazilian artist Sheila R Giovanni and Nigerian artist Arinze Stanley Egbengwu.

Arjun’s Instagram page ‘art.arjunkutty’ has 11.5k followers. “People generally love my works, are my critics. They are one of my primary sources of motivation. Most of them are young artists. I help them out as much as possible,” says Arjun. “I feel like I have a responsibility to inspire others. Because that’s how I started off when I joined Instagram, looking for a source of motivation or someone who can be a mentor to me,” he says.

Despite his passion for drawing, he is a pursuing chartered accountancy (CA). “I want to be a CA by profession and an artist by passion,” says Arjun. “I’m slowly planning on setting up an exhibition and drawing workshops,” he adds.