The Recluse, 2020
Fodder, 2020
Continuing from his earlier work, the central figure here is a fully realised being, wired into the computer with its reach extending far beyond its plastic casing. No longer limited by flesh and blood and bones, he is reborn, levitating above earthly concerns. Once again the character is drawn from Anirudh’s being, his notebook breaking the proverbial 4th wall to appear as itself. The vertical dashes complete the transformation, appearing as he attains nirvana, finally a being above the terrestrial.
Stuck, 2020
Reflecting his position when the prompt was announced, Anirudh used this to experiment with the storytelling abilities of objects around him. Beginning with the oddly shaped container he weaves a sci-fi inspired tale, of a time traveller, stuck with a finger in this dimension, clawing to get into the ship moving through space. His fascination for Indian mythology also led him to read the final images as the origin story of Ganesh, the brassy hook transforming into the elephant-headed god’s trunk as his emerges fully formed from his mother’s bathing pond.
As a student, Anirudh is on the cusp of figuring out where his passion will take him. His fascination with the styles and stories found in the works of Mukesh Singh, Kim Jung Gi and the Amar Chitra Katha series, have pushed him to develop a deep understanding of human anatomy, a skill he puts to great use in his drawings. The overwhelming need of educational institutions to pigeonhole students into “illustrator” or “artist” notwithstanding, he is choosing a path that seems to veer to the fantastical. The lockdown and its allied challenges, have inspired Anirudh to reach out of his comfort zone, to create self-effacing works, that while drawing heavily from his own life preface a universal experience of being in thrall to the interconnected web. And yet far from being dystopian, his sci-fi inspired drawings borrow from the great myths; the moral like a good seed, emerging from the destruction.