My affair with Couches
They started long ago. when I joined Delhi University and was waiting to find decent accommodation on campus. In the meantime, a friend of my father offered me his office to sleep in when I didn’t want to travel a…
TechnoCreative ArtSkool
Live, Learn, and Pass It On..
Category Mind
Knowledge is Power
On the last day of my stint with Frank Simoes, who was the copywriter and owner of the leading creative-driven advertising agency in India, I distinctly remember me sitting in his book-lined office with a red portable typewriter, facing him,…
Fly Forever
I remember having very vivid recurring dreams of me flying around. As I write this, I am reminded of Shams Tabrez who was the love and inspiration of Rumi. He was a Dervish in Sufi Islam. He used to fly,…
Garbage Art Genre
Garbage In Garbage Out ( GIGO ) – We all know that computer terminology. It happens to most humans too, we only are capable of giving back what we receive by way of exposure and taking in. If one reads…
Layers of Creativity
Creativity, in any discipline, much like painting, is one that comes in layers. It doesn’t happen all a once or is just dumped in one big load. It arrives in stages. You get the inspiration to do something, then you…
Painting is Hard Work?
Painting large-scale works is a grueling process and it takes physical endurance, creative stamina, and a passionate heart, all of which need discipline and training. Sometimes, I have had to stand and paint for 14 hours a day, sometimes more,…
Getting High on Thinking
Noor’s reference to Edward de Bono’s books like the Six Thinking Hats, it is evident that Noor has changed hats throughout his trajectory. Right from running his own ad company and managing creative accounts with a team of fifty people,…
Light vs Dark
“As an artist with his own ‘calling’ to paint, Noor decided to travel on this journey by self-educating himself in the processes and techniques that most artists learn in professional art institutions. Over the conversation, he counted 300 art books…
Adverts – the Art of the 80s
Advertising was the biggest art form practiced in the eighties and nineties. And it was like the womb for many other disciplines like film, writing, music, and other Fine Arts. Salman Rushdie was an advertising copywriter for many years before…
The Divine Loneliness
We ALL are alone within because we are born alone and die alone. Even the twins have this, they can have entirely different or same outlooks but that existential aloneness is very much the part of each of us. What…
The Spirit of Endurance
Life is not about the security of livelihood, but to have lived true to your calling or purpose. When someone gets excited and says I will go through whatever, and then lives up to it, then they embark on the…
Why be an Artist?
Why does society not encourage the profession of an artist? What’s the core issue? Why is it frowned upon traditionally speaking? These are tough questions that need to be answered. The very simplistic answer to this very deep-sounding question is…