Of bare necessities

KOCHI: In artist K G Babu’s work ‘Dreaming Girl’, an Adivasi girl, is seen relishing a fruit. Her eyes, magnified by the artist, are lustred with profound divinity, a certain ecstasy that only the viewer can imagine. Her skin tone reminds one of Lord Krishna — a divine bluish-violet, exaggerated by magic realism. In his ‘reflection’, the subject’s eyes encompass an entire universe, although with lingering sadness. 

Rediscovering an innate bond, almost like an umbilical cord, between himself and the forest is what emboldened Babu to employ Adivasis as an inherent part of his paintings. A complex preoccupation with the colour blue, the subject’s eyes and the world they mirror have encouraged the artist to explain his vision through oil paintings, which adorn the walls of several dwellings.

Babu is no stranger to the highbrows in the art society - laurels are such. His acclaimed painting ‘Syama - the singing bird’ was showcased by Lalitha Kala Akademi, Delhi, on India’s 60th Independence Day, along with the works of veterans like M F Hussain. His work was inspired by the movie ‘Prakashan’. He also lent his artwork for the Vaikom Muhammed Basheer Museum, while his latest mural on the people of Mattanchery at Mandalay Hall, a concept hotel, right before the lockdown, are just exemplars of his fine repertoire. 

Born in Velupadam, a small village in Thrissur, Babu grew up astounded by his brother’s talent in sketching and painting film posters that the latter saw in front of hotels. “The fascination towards his artwork wrecked me, positively. I channelled my energy towards creating the same. Though he stopped sketching after SSLC, I resolved to never put down the brush,” says Babu. 

The artist’s childhood and teenage years were far from rosy. Brought up in penury, he couldn’t complete his fine arts studies as he had to sustain the family with hard-earned money. After years of surviving on commercial art, advertising and small commissions, Babu got his first break when the Sahitya Akademi exhibited his portraits and landscape work. After a tryst in Dubai with an Italian artist, Babu delved into art for his sake in 2006. 

One with nature
“You need to carefully consider your primary muse or subject in art. I grew up near the Bamboo Research Centre. As a result, I would wake up to these bamboo shoots, which are blessings of nature. Even though I barely had a roof above my head in the forest, I slept soundly. Life has drastically changed ever since I moved to Thrissur town.

The incessant sound pollution has ruined my state of mind and sleep. My closeness to nature has also incited a sense of endearment towards the forest dwellers. In fact, my sister-in-law hails from the tribal community. Whenever I would stay at her colony, I observed the poverty and the nothingness that reminded me of my childhood. And yet, they had inner peace, a joy which can’t be found elsewhere,” explains Babu. 

The artist would photograph the Adivasis in Athirapally, Attappadi and Wayanad, in their natural surroundings, and recreate them into art, hyped up with magic realism — elevated by enormous eyes, shades of blue, bamboo shoots and dragonflies. 

The colour of significance
“Blue is the colour of grief, forest and tribals. I’ve always found an atmosphere of sadness and quiet misery that envelopes them. Simultaneously, blue is also a calming colour that represents purity and honesty. Hues of black and darker shades are generally used to depict the tribal community. By amalgamating blue into the same, I have chosen to describe their perpetually melancholic yet calm lives. While I have drawn the people of Mattanchery on the walls of Mandalay Hall, their eyes are drawn realistically. As an artist, I have chosen to enlarge the eyes of solely the tribal community, to magnify the divinity in them,” elaborates Babu. 

Though he does fewer paintings on the same, citing the difficulties of obtaining their photographs and the ever-decreasing number of such communities, Babu’s portraits and landscapes espousing the forest can indubitably touch lives. Check out his works on www.artistkgbabu.com or on Instagram@artistkgbabu.