The COVID-19 outbreak pushed the entire world population into strange and unexpected experiences. With an uncertainty that descended, people are forced to spend more time at their homes looking inwards. A shared global experience created a need for an artistic expression that can resonate with the world population and ease the uncertain times. Vimal Chandran’s artworks can perfectly fall into this category – these are creative, spontaneous and delightful . Vimal Chandran is a visual artist , illustrator and photographer from Bangalore, India. He used everyday objects at his home to create a series of illustrations which are surprisingly whimsical. According to his own words “I started looking at the things around my house hoping I can make a story out of it, it’s amazing to learn how differently you can think if you drastically change your normal routine or if you embrace the moment of discomfort. Pandemic created that need for change in routines and added the discomfort.”
Vimal Chandran created illustrations using objects like vitamin tablets, water droplets, balloons, airpods or anything that he could find in his house and called them “Object Oriented Illustrations”. These illustrations are creatively interesting, minimal and at the same time they tell a story. Viewers are encouraged to create a story in their mind while looking at them. Vimal Says” I really enjoyed the process of finding a different meaning to an object, just by thinking and playfully arranging them in a different way than you normally would”.
He used water droplets on paper to create illustrations which are like a 3D painting on a 2D paper. ” These droplet paintings have s short life span, water will evaporate after a while, but that makes it more interesting, not everything has to stay forever, not everything has to be created forever” Vimal says.
“I first tried incorporating objects in my illustrations two years back when I was down with pox. I was forced to take rest for 2 weeks as prescribed by the doctor and I used my vitamin tablets to create a series of illustrations and I uploaded them on social media”. People loved the idea. “Covid 19 scenario created a situation of home quarantine for months , so I tried to experiment more with the same idea.”
Eventually, Vimal Chandran who is also a photographer, started using his macro photographs to create illustrations and they look like something straight out of a fantasy world. “I clicked macro images from the garden at my home and I used them as a reference and illustrated on top of them.” Vimal explains his process of making ‘illustrated photographs’. His tiny characters on top of photographs are adorable and makes the viewers observe the world around them more closely and embrace the sheer joy of little things in life.
You can check out his latest works from his Instagram profile https://www.instagram.com/vimalchandran/ and his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/vimalpaintings and also on his website www.vimalchandran.com.
Afzal Anis is the founder and CEO of Insova Group and the author of Visionary Wits.