A Splotch of Lazy Red
Monday 15 January 2007A little stroke here, a little blotch there, a little rub in the middle, a little smudge of blue down there — before you know it, your hands are deliciously dirty with a yummy khichdi of paint, and voila, you’ve just completed another doodle in Photoshop. Doodling is so much fun.
Here’s what I cooked up last night:
… those were about two hours of cooking in Photoshop. Here’s the recipe: I shot some newspaper clippings through a store window in Fifth Avenue, NYC, chopped up the photograph really fine, threw in some blueberries, fiery jalapenos and cheese, and nuked the whole mess in the microwave for a good two minutes till it was tender and bright 
Some of my other compositions are here:
debajit.com/compositions
(I’ll upload more stuff there soon)
So much for the first post of 2007…
Happy New Year everyone.
I’ll go now and wash the paint off from under my fingernails
Update: Here’s an interesting interpretation of the artwork, posted by Vivek in the comments: (Thanks, Vivek!)
As we have been moving on, the media more than ever before seems to have lost credibility and focus. And this is seen more here than even in India. There is hardly any divergent viewpoint, true humane stories from around the world are never published and are increasingly buried and smudged under layers of darkness [1]. Instead, what we are shown are superficial layers covered by color, gloss and smiling faces [2] so that we the selected few stay in our comfort zones, and are not disturbed by what is truely happening.
As long as the media meets our needs [3] , there is no need to look beyond. They might make the smiles more wider [4] , but the colors will fade, until the rust starts showing [5] and the true picture emerges.
- Saturated Curl (SC) has a layer of charcoal on the top right corner.
- Newsprint. Interrupted (NI) has a smiling face on top right.
- NI has the words “great pay” bottom left.
- The smile becomes larger from SC to NI.
- SC .. the saturation is almost overwhelming, jaundiced and rusted.
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Hmm.. nice .. jus wondering if there is anything being conveyed here ? or is it just an expression of pure joy and fun
.. coz if it is would have loved a bit of capsicum as well .. for the dash of green 
… waiting for more ..
i would rather prefer to have saturated girl……” not saturated curl ” …..hehehehe
Vivek, no, there is nothing I intended this to convey, not even joy and fun
You’re free to interpret it any way you choose 
If you have any interesting interpretations do let me know.
There’s something about trying to explain, dissect and appreciate poetry or art which I personally never got myself to appreciate
(Now is that paradoxical?) For me, as long I find it aesthetically pleasing enough, I would call it well done.
At the same time, imagine any painting with a story behind it. Maybe it lends more meaning to the work of art — but then, with the story to taint your thoughts and color your judgment, would you be able to appreciate that work of art in isolation, denuded from all external meaning, as an intrinsic work of art per se and nothing else? Would that story serve as an aesthetic crutch then?
Maybe, trying to explain art may not really kill it, but it sure does leave a lot less room for the imagination.
Hey.. and jalapenos can be green too
Kushan, it could be a boy for all you know
Very True.
Perhaps my view is tainted by my conditioning into literary analysis during school. Art should be open to interpretation, and its amazing to see how different people find different meanings in the same thing. This so reflects even in movies, where when you watch the same movie twice, there are always hidden layers to be discovered :). Yet, there is always this curiosity to know what was the driving force behind the artist :). And sometimes its even more surprising to find out that there was none , as in your case
( Perhaps the love for Photoshop 
. )
Hmm.. despite u not liking interpretations ..
2 Cents
As we have been moving on , the media more than ever before seems to have lost credibility and focus. And this is seen more here than even in India. There is hardly any divergent viewpoint, true humane stories from around the world are never published and are increasingly buried and smudged under layers of darkness [1]. Instead, what we are shown are superficial layers of covered by color, gloss and smiling faces[2] so that we the selected few stay in our comfort zones, and are not disturbed by what is truely happening.
As long as the media meets our needs [3] , there is no need to look beyond. They might make the smiles more wider [4] , but the colors will fade, until the rust starts showing [5] and the true picture emerges.
1. Saturated Curl (SC) has a layer of charcoal on the top right corner.
2. Newsprint. Interrupted (NI) has a smiling face on top right.
3. NI has the words “great pay” bottom left.
4. The smile becomes larger from SC to NI.
5. SC .. the saturation is almost overwhelming, jaundiced and rusted.
Vivek, thanks for the wonderful interpretation. It never fails to surprise me what people see
despite u not liking interpretations ..
Oh, I love interpretations. Look at this work of art here:
http://www.elephantartgallery.com/paintings/6128.php
This was made by an elephant called Kaew. The painting is called “Know What I Mean?”. Now what did the elephant really mean?. Do we really want to know? Well, some of us do
Let’s look at the review… it starts off like this:
“Know What I Mean?” is a complex work that includes vertical, horizontal and arced brushwork that fills the whole space. It seems to be telling us something…
Isn’t that interesting?
… or maybe the elephant just ate some grass, was happy, and wiggled the brush in glee to create the work of art that people swooned over, and called it a day, and went to sleep…
(Did I tell you that painting was worth $300 at the time of this writing? For a lot of canvas left blank, people would love to fill it up with very interesting interpretations)
You know… Perhaps that’s the best thing about art… Being yourself… With your colors and interpretations… And it’s still art. So… is there anything as good art and bad art then?
I would say, there is. And interpretations wouldn’t change that.
Yet, there is always this curiosity to know what was the driving force behind the artist
. And sometimes its even more surprising to find out that there was none , as in your case 
( Perhaps the love for Photoshop :D)
Why would it surprise you if there was no inspiration? That’s not to say there wasn’t
Is something created in play or even fortuitously beneath something composed in “inspiration”?
Well… No wonder that “precocious” elephant makes $300 a painting … and all that the little 5-year old kid who loves to scrawl all over her art-book gets is a “How nice” from her mom