A conversation with the award winning Indian artist Anand Manchiraju on what inspires him the most to create his works. Living close to Himalaya Mountains, he is most drawn to the beauty of nature, Hindu gods and goddesses.
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Kooness: Describe what kind of art you focus on
Anand Manchiraju: My work is abstract art focusing on cities, abstract drips, and actions paintings. My main subjects vary a lot from time to time as I like to experiment with different art styles, mediums and tools. I have worked with landscapes, cityscapes, still life, figurative, portraits, and some digital art.
K: Why Do You Make This Type of Art?
AM: This type of art gives me inner peace and satisfies my urge to create new painting techniques. When I reflect upon my long association with art, I find that the creative process is just as intriguing and rewarding as the final outcome of my projects. This desire to create has always been strong even when others have tried to dissuade me. The internal push to create has given me an appreciation for the process of exploration, patience, and the beauty of art. I believe this creative and explorative journey has become about freedom to create and the freedom to express myself.
K: What are you inspired by?
AM: My work is inspired by cities around the world and all of that takes part in it. For instance, the busy streets, the billboards, traffic, people wandering around, lights, climate – literally everything tjay makes a city unique is what lights the fire to create.
K: What Does Your Art Mean to You?
AM: My art is very significant to me as it is what makes me love myself - it always atarts from the art. I think my art defines me and makes me a creator.
K: What is the artistic process behind your work?
AM: I draw inspirations from looking at life around me and conceive an idea based on my inspirations. As I get to work, I explore tools, mediums, colours to recreate and represent my imagination into a painting. As I make the painting, I retouch it until I am able to replicate my mind image onto canvas.
K: Where are you from and how does that affect your work?
AM: I am from Rishikesh, a town at the foothill of the Great Himalayan Ranges and on the banks of river Ganges. The mountains taught me grandeur and Ganges taught me momentum- that all my paintings reflect.
K: Who are your biggest artistic influences?
AM: Vincent Van Gogh and Jackson Pollock are two of my greatest influences.
K: What is your favourite medium?
AM: Some of my favourite mediums are oil, acrylic and photochemical on bromide - which is my own discovery.
K: When is your favourite time of day to create?
AM: I conceive an idea during the morning hours but I tend to work days and nights till my painting is final.
Cover Image: Anand Manchuraji. Dots Dots and Dots 3. Courtesy of Teravarna.
Written by Kooness
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