AUGUST 2010 ISSUE 1 Where Art Starts
Dear Readers, I proudly present to you the first issue of START. I was inspired to make this magazine because „art‟ is so much a part of me. This is an aperture into the minds of the artists whom I admire. The main aim of this magazine is to provide a platform for young Indians to showcase their creativity. I feel there is so much beauty around us; it just needs a start and recognition to become something significant in our lives. Since „art‟ is relative and personal to each one of us, let us open our minds to these artists, who have opened themselves to us. I want to thank everyone who was involved in the making of this issue, specially the 5 unique artists who graciously accepted to be a part of the first edition, and my sister, for her immense support. We hope you like it.
PRIYA PRAKASH
EDITOR purplebeats@gmail.com
Featured Artists . . . . .
Setumadhava Kathavate Aayushi Singh Shalaka Pai Rakshith Ashok Sameer Jha
SETUMADHAVA KATHAVATE, 21 BANGALORE Engineer Photographer http://www.flickr.com/photos/setubylens/
Photography has been kind of a 'revelation' to me. To me, it's the perfect medium to showcase the world's beauty. The limits are endless and it is something that allows one to set their imagination free and create something special out of the usual. It's a true passion to me. I started exploring the capabilities of my first camera back when I was about 15 years old. Ever since the fun of looking at things around us in pictures has always been the most fascinating thing.
Every photographer is unique. Every person has a perspective of his own and I admire each person's creativity. My enthusiasm and my love for travelling and exploring the world is what I believe keeps me going.
Above- A shot of my brother, Dr.Sreedhar's clinic in a small village called Yadravi in Belgaum district. His is the only clinic in the entire village and he has been working there for nearly 17 years now providing medical care for the entire village. Panorama- 5 images merged.
Flickr and its people have been my biggest inspiration. Each time I visit the site, I see something fabulous. There's an endless collection of brilliant photographs, and especially the pictures on the 'Explore' page make me go 'Wow, now how did they do this!' Apart from flickr there are several other web sites such as the Big picture, National geographic and some of the photo blogs have been very inspiring.
I've come across some wonderful people during my regular photo walks, with some Bangalore based photography groups (mainly BWS and BPW), who're all splendid photographers. I've learnt something new almost every time I've gone out for a shoot with them. The fact that I get to explore new places and see them not just as a passer-by is also quite interesting and excites me. And the kind appreciation that people give me for my work is probably one of the most important fact that inspires me to shoot more and better photographs.
AAYUSHI SINGH, 15 LUCKNOW Student Class 10 Aspiring Photographer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystal005/
Photography is an expression of oneself. When you paint, every stroke is a reflection of your emotions, when you click, every click has a part of you. I believe that an emotion, negative or positive, buried inside you finds its place in a shot clicked by you; however minimalist or complicated it may be. Flowers, they seem to speak to me. Sample this, a drooping lily, an open sunflower, a fallen and shriveled rose; it‟s their way of communication. There‟re just innumerous ways in which I can look at the same flower, and find something interesting. Humans portray emotions so clearly, the flowers do too, and it‟s just about seeing them like that.
I‟m a vehement believer of the fact that every one of us has „some thing‟ about him/her. You may be totally insane, totally cynical, totally loud, and completely bizarre, but still, there‟s no other person on Planet Earth like you. I definitely am a unique individual, „causes I have a different way of looking at the world, the way I perceive something is astonishingly different from the person sitting even a feet away from me.
SHALAKA PAI, 19 BOMBAY B.A. Student Jai Hind College Writer and Aspiring Photographer
http://randomizedmadness.blogspot.com/
I'm that girl sitting on the beach watching the waves. I'm the girl in the mall, watching the people. I'm the girl at home watching the cats. I'm that girl. I'm self-explanatory. I like beaches, cats, food, chocolate and good books. I hate rain, narrow mindedness, and traffic. I mock Justin Bieber and Twilight. I'm inspired by books I read, movies I watch, and things I see around me. Bombay is a pretty inspiring city, at most times. My writing is inspired by personal experience, things I see while travelling, and the chats I have with my mom. My photography is very spontaneous. The way I think and the way I string words together, the metaphors I use, makes me unique.
I ache to write. I long to get the spark of an idea, it doesn't have to be phenomenal, any idea, and I want to catch it and trap it down on paper even as it struggles to escape me, pin in down with the lines and curves that form my nearillegible handwriting. I will write about people I know, and the people that come out of the depths of my head. I will...create. I long to do random dance steps everywhere, but I don't. I'm waiting for the moment when I realize that my body is finally one with the beat. I want to click. To capture light and shade. To freeze time into millions of pixels. To see the unusual in the ordinary. To frame life as it passes me by. But I'll never get any of it done if all I do is want and wait.
EPIPHANIES I'm not the biggest fan of organized religion, or even religion as a whole. I'm not atheist, but God, to me, is kind of formless. I don't even give it a name.... I've almost always shied away from poojas. When I've gone, I've always been in another room, playing with the other kids around. I haven't attended a pooja or a satsang in more than two years. So I wasn't too pleased when my aunt, who I currently live with in Bombay, decided to drag me to a neighbour's place for a Ganpati pooja. I sat awkwardly for a good half hour, right in the front, as others around me chanted, some mantras known, some alien. Even the 7 year old kid next to me knew exactly what to do. All I did was admire the decorations and the pure white orchids used. Yeah, I checked, they were real. And in the middle of all the noise and the chaos, my mind throwing up random bull, I looked into the compassionate eyes of the idol...and I had a conversation with Lord Ganesha. Naah, it was probably the deluded mental diarrhea. “Enjoying this, are you?” I asked the object of worship. “YES!” he replied. “But seriously dude,” I say, “'why do people go through so much trouble for you anyway when you'd be just as happy even if they didn't?” “Because,' and I could almost see a grin very familiar to me from somewhere else, 'I'm AWESOME.”
RAKSHITH ASHOK, 21 BANGALORE Design Student National Institute of Creative Communication Graphic Artist, Remixer and Record Producer http://www.behance.net/rakart
Designing for me, is an outlet that helps me express myself, reciprocate my ideas on to a digital canvas (or through other medium). It feels good, knowing that I can picture something in my head, and make sure that the exact same image can be reproduced digitally or on paper. Ultimately, I get to share visuals I see in my head with many people, which is a cool thing. I like Music (Remixing and Production), Illustration (Traditional and Digital), Motion Graphics, Photography, Film, Fashion and more recently, writing and poetry; anything that stimulates my mind and imagination. I dislike staying indoors, auto drivers, bad network reception; people who donâ€&#x;t make sense (HA!), having restrictions imposed over my creativity, Egos/Attitude.
NINJA 2008 A.D
RAKSOUNDZ + „RAKSOUNDZ +‟ is a FREE downloadable mixtape consisting of roughly 5 to 6 remixes spread across POP/ ELECTRO/ HIPHOP/ EXPERIMENTAL genres. Featured here, is one of the two cover concepts. When starting out with any design, I mentally prepare a color palette that reflects my mood at different moments during the day. http://www.myspace.com/RAKSOUNDS
I‟ve been involved with Art ever since I was a kid. Being exposed to colorful imagery all around me, definitely sparked my interest in it. I remember getting inspired by early morning toon shows, and then there were hand painted movie posters and billboards that were so colorful to look at. I‟d doodle the comic strips and the faces I‟d see in the morning paper, or browse through a couple of encyclopedias, looking at pictures of that I found interesting to draw. RAKSOLID HOMEWORK
presents
his >>
The Album Cover is a mix of Vector art and Hand-drawn Illustrations.
I get inspired by the Human mind (The way we think, analyze, visualize etc) It‟s what I find very fascinating, Music – I always have my headphones/speakers on at all times. It‟s a HUGE influence in my life, People and Places – I get to learn new things and look at things from a different perspective and then there is Philosophy. << My Visual representation of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 3
I consider myself unique because my style of Illustration keeps changing constantly. All in all, I try to keep it vibrant. I dedicate quite a lot of time, paying attention to detail as well. I always keep myself open to experiment on new ideas that grab my attention. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x;t stop learning nor exposing myself to new things, be it Art or Music. I learn something or the other everyday because it helps me grow and get better at my craft. Lastly, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x;t compare myself (and my work) to others.
Some of my works for Online Promotions >>
SAMEER JHA, 19 MANIPAL Student Manipal Institute of Communication Aspiring Writer
http://sameerjha.wordpress.com/
I like RK Narayan, Cricket, and IPL, personal blogs which are revealing, twitter, card games, HOME and finally- women. I dislike losing. In anything. I am no longer the artist type who would sit and rattle out a beautiful article. I write whenever I feel a story has potential to be true and entertaining at the same time. I have a rigid concept about story telling and I mentally check if the story falls in it. I am unique simply because I have never in my life seen someone who's like me. The presence of my kin in human sociological circles is rare. Self-image is very important for any artist.
IDEAS A very serious mark of amateurs in our country is that they put too much weight on ideas. So much so that when an idea hits them, they are so overwhelmed by it that they forget that they have to write a good tight script. Now, I am not telling that ideas are not important. Only that they are the easy part. There are just too many people who are creative enough to think of a great idea. What‟s lacking is the ability to make the script great too. Writing of any kind is more craftsmanship than inspiration. And it‟s not like an amateur screenwriter doesn‟t know of this limitation, he just doesn‟t recognize it. For example, I have seen many short filmmakers shying away from giving a synopsis of their film. They are like: “I can‟t tell you anything about the movie, coz‟ if I do, you will not enjoy it.” Well, look, here‟s the deal kid. If all your movie does is give me a synopsis of the movie that it could have been, then am not going like it. Your attempt should be to make a film that can be watched again and again. Like all good movies, your movie needs to seem fresh if seen after 3 months or so. And good screenwriting is an awesome way to ensure that.
A Fortunate Negotiation (FICTION)
The last few weeks prior to this night have been extremely eventful. Tonight especially, I can say is one of the best nights of my life. Correction, it is the best night of my life.
I am one of those small town strugglers aspiring to become an actor. (Though, unlike my peers, I can really act.) I am also not very poor and have a sufficiently prosperous family in my hometown Lucknow. I came to Mumbai giving myself a 2 year‟s ultimatum to make a name in the industry. I didn‟t tell my Father about this, but my Mother knows. My Father thinks that I am working in a Bank or something. I can also speak good English, which is why I am writing this, and have an account on Facebook, and Orkut. I am telling you this, because all this is not common in my ilk. In the beginning, I thought taking up a job somewhere would be a good idea, so I started working at a posh Multiplex in an ultra posh area. This is where I met the girl that the majority of this narrative is based on. She too was working with me. We used to hang out after work on Marine Drive, and slowly (3 weeks that is) we progressed to the level where we started making out in the corner seat of the theaters. 3 weeks ago though, we broke up. You can say it was 75% her doing. One day, just like that she brought up the topic of her marriage, and said, “Either you marry me now, or I will marry someone else.”
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I told her to wait for a while, but she didn‟t listen. She even said that “I had little hope as an actor”. That sort of ticked me off. Who was she to say something like that! I told her flat, “This is more important to me than you.” And left. A little doubt arose in my mind, at night; about whether she was right or not. But, I said to myself, quoting some great man: “Don‟t fret, son. Luck comes to those who work hard for it. Every person who has come a long way is just 2-3 steps away from success, but it‟s taking that 2-3 steps that separates the failures from the successes. Don‟t give up.” Amongst these thoughts, and dreams about cracking funny jokes with SRK on sets, I fell asleep. The next day onwards it was as if my luck had turned upside down. Everywhere I went, people talked to me nicely. In 2 weeks, I got signed up for two music videos, and an advertisement for a top agency. I chose not to tell my ex-girlfriend about it because, that‟s just not me you know. I didn‟t want to have anything to do with her. A week ago though, I got a letter of invitation from her. Marriage invitation. Even a dimwit could decipher that she had sent it to piss me off. I was not going to be. I am writing this after having a great time dancing half drunk at her wedding. The food tasted great too.
SOMEONE YOU WANT TO GIVE A SECOND CHANCE TO. A Letter to Myself.
Dear Me,
It‟s okay. Certain cars start only after they are pushed. You are one of them, probably. Besides, certain things which seem catastrophic in the beginning, may turn out to be miraculous at the end. You can say you were unlucky in a lot of ways but luck can aggravate things; not create it. From now on, you will not let Luck be a very determining factor. It‟s funny in a way, but I really feel sorry for you. But things could have been much worse. At least now, you are getting a second chance. If you blow it again, then you should take a glass of water and drown yourself in it. That‟s it. Anyway, I wish you luck. And some kind of an emotional support you know. For those tough days in the sun.
“I dream about my future, But I don't know what's going to happen.” - Sameer
Life is a great bundle of little things.