Art Direction

Trying my hand in different areas of art had always been my thing. One of them happen to be Art Direction. Art direction is what you don’t see explicitly on the screen but is an important process of film-making. It is something that sets the whole mood of the movie, specifically the time frame of the incidents that takes place. Watching movies with the perspective of a professional artist makes you delve deeper into the movie in regards to the sets, lighting, etc. I had always been curious to know the behind-the-scenes of it all. When the opportunity presented itself, I was delighted. The first project I worked on, as a costume designer, was called Contrast. It was a photo documentary showcasing the contrast of a foreign woman in a very local setting of Hyderabad such as in a crowded bus or a butcher shop. The wild idea needed equally wild outfits and I was ready to throw in my two cents. Another project which gave me the most exposure was a short film called Lipi. It happened to be a time-travel movie hence the sets played a major role as they had to be consistent with every scene. The film revolved around an Indian post office and an empty room had to be transformed into one from scratch. I remember vividly working on a shoot, how the perception of the whole film could be changed based off of art direction.

Art direction is not just for home movies but also very significant in documentary-making. Documentation of photographs, although similar to art direction, the work environment of both differed largely. While photo documentation took place more on-schedule and less spontaneous, movie-making was a new schedule everyday as it had to be in collaborative efforts with other departments such as audio, camera crew, etc.

As much fun as art direction can be, it can also be very grueling at the same time. It requires a lot of physical effort such as being present for outdoor shoots, etc. In a way I prefer documentaries over films, if I had to choose, given my schedule as of now. In fact, I would love to have my own production and create certain sets to document different areas of art and life in the near future. I love challenging myself to new endeavors. Here’s a list of few films/documentaries I’ve worked on if you are interested:

1)      Contrast by Kishor Krishnamoorthi

2)      Lipi by Harikanth Gunamagari

3)      Hide n Seek by Deepak Redddy

4)      Ranga Veda by Harikanth Gunamagari

Wall Paintings

There is something so gratifying about having a large space to paint over. During my childhood, I was always found to be painting walls of my bedroom and really enjoying it. Later, when I had established myself as a professional, people started to approach me to decorate their business households with my art. There had been a phase when it wasn’t a trend yet but I really had wished then to explore that side of the trade. So when it finally had come to me, I was excited to do it!

The first place I had wall painted for was Chai Kahani, a café centered around chai or tea instead of the traditional coffee culture. It felt more authentic to Hyderabad as a renowned chai city. A friend of mine had been designing the interior of the café and had asked me for some suggestions on the colour palette. In return, I asked if I could paint one of the walls, and both my friend and the owners agreed upon it. I added a touch of flora to the earthy tones of the café and it resulted in a bright yet cosy place.

Camlin Acrylic Paints that come in 500ml jars and multiple large sized brushes were used.

Conçu was another place which had been following my work for a while and approached me for it. The famous patisserie had asked me to paint some foliage over the walls to give it a garden-fresh look, a contrast from the heavenly sweet desserts. The style and theme of the paintings have always depended on the interiors of the café and the mood board of it. Communication with the café owners and interior designers is key for getting the art right. Luckily, the work done at both the cafés pleased the owners and the customers. It’s delightful to look at the pictures of the visitors along the walls.

In the past few months, I had worked with various other places in multiple cities. A few of them had already-established concepts which I had to follow along and a few, where I was in charge of the wall painting and the colour palette of the interiors to match with it. Since I’ve worked with all these places, the blank walls of my brand new art studio/office space have been calling my name. I look forward to working on that in the coming weeks. So this has been all about my wall paintings fetish, do have a look at them in person if you ever have the chance to do so!

All About Prints

Art for me, has always been a source of joy and pride. Be it creating art, or viewing art. Every time I paint a new piece of art, the entire process of creating it elevates me to a different zone where I am at peace with the world. And after I complete it, the joy of seeing my vision become reality is hard to put in words.

And I am keen on sharing this joy with the rest of the world, so I would like to announce that I be will making and selling LIMITED EDITION FINE ART PRINTS of selected pieces of my work.

My 100 Day Project has been a wonderful experience so far, and I am truly overwhelmed with the amount of feedback and praises I have received till date. But most of all, the number of requests from people to buy the paintings of M.S.Subbulakshmi has been the primary reason that I decided to make prints of my work. Only 1 painting will be available for sale as of now and I will be adding more, depending on the response and feedback from all of you.

You can order your limited edition print from here.

As I started the 100 Day Project, I was looking to tackle some interesting subjects and M.S.Subbulakshmi has been one of my biggest inspirations in life. Based on an iconic photo of her by Raghu Rai, this picture spoke volumes to me with her intense expression and lifelike emotions. It was also one of the toughest ones that I had painted till now of her, mainly because I wanted to ensure that I could do justice to the photograph. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted to depict her. Should I make it monochrome or flesh toned? What medium should I use? I knew that I had to paint this with the same qualities as the photo yet adding my own twist to it.

Luckily, on the day I sat to make this painting, I found my process. Initially I had made swatches for skin tones on my palette, but it hit me that this was not what I wanted. I stopped what I was doing and went through all my previous portraits. I looked at them and realised I should keep it in my style, the multi-colour way that would bring all the features alive, and not sway away from my individuality. Towards the end of the day, I was grinning with excitement and couldn’t sit still in my seat. I actually did the final part of the painting while standing over my desk! The excitement was too real and it went by very quickly. At last, it came out to be the way I wanted and that was very satisfying to me.

Making the fine art prints is a whole process that I learnt about over the past couple of weeks. From choosing the right paper and getting the right printer, it was all a new experience for me but I truly enjoyed every bit of it. Once we finalized the paper, I knew that colour accuracy and being true to the original painting is vital so we spent a lot of tweaking minor settings to ensure perfect quality. We made nearly 20 test prints, each one slowly getting to the final level of quality that I wanted. We started printing at around 3pm and by the time prints finally matched with the original painting, it was already 9pm! But it was time well spent as I could confidently say this is the very best print quality that you can ever buy of my work.

The final set consists of:

A limited edition of 25 archival giclée prints, signed and numbered by me.

Here’s where you can find it!

I am glad that I went through this process of madness to make these stunning prints, I am super happy with the results and I hope all of you enjoy your prints.