Unsettling creatures and where to find them

KOCHI: 25-year-old Mumbai-based artist Madhav Nair’s sketches are characterised by oversized hands and legs. Featuring anthropomorphic characters that make viewers squirm, Madhav draws inspiration from the weird cartoons he watched as a kid

During his almost life-long tryst with sketching, Mumbai-based artist Madhav Nair was critiqued for his inability to draw hands and feet well. He set out to perfect the skill and realised that limbs were perhaps the most interesting and fascinating aspect of figurative sketching. He was so absorbed in the attempt that it developed into a lasting preoccupation. Now, the most recurrent motif in Madhav’s neon bright illustrations are large oversized hands and legs, almost similar to that of humans, taking over or standing in for other parts of the body in what seems like a bizarre and morbid metamorphosis of a specimen human body.  

The 25-year-old’s analogue sketches, which are finessed digitally, feature anthropomorphic characters that seem to be amid a grotesque mutation depicting a sinister scene making the viewer uncomfortable. Interestingly, Madhav’s inspiration comes from the cartoons and TV shows he watched as a kid and the comic books he was introduced to. The artist, who admittedly conceives his compositions in a tongue-in-cheek manner is aware of the dark connotations his work exudes. 

“Most of the shows I watched as a kid like the cartoon ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’ were weird. Also, there was a comic called The Far Side which I followed in the newspaper regularly. All these caught my attention. In college I experimented with specifically silent comics with no dialogue.

The burden is then solely on the visual to convey the story. However, I think silent comics have an important role to play in a country like India where there are many languages. My work with comics took a backseat once I moved to Mumbai around two years ago. At present, I am more involved in standalone projects and graphic illustrations for clients,” says Madhav.

Given the unsettling grain of his work, it seems concomitant that Madhav uses stark colours for his illustrations. “Since I colour my works digitally, I can make the frames as bright and garish as possible. I think it fits my so-called style of art. Although most people who view my work think of it as dark, I approach each piece from a funny perspective. However, I don’t mind the inference. People are free to interpret it the way they want,” says Madhav, a Thiruvananthapuram native.

Currently working as a graphic designer with an online publication called Paper Planes, Madhav’s commissioned rendered primarily in his trademark style often involve working with independent music labels. Additionally, he has worked on projects such as Optikal Asylum and Art in Transit, an initiative by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology of which he is an alumnus, and brands including the Bombay Duck Design, Levi’s and Social.Follow Madhav on Instagram @deadtheduck