Spiritual Etchings by T Venkanna

To add some quirk to copywriter-turned-author Shashank Gupta’s debut novel Pimp, artist T Venkanna created a series of monochrome etchings of the same name. They’re as zany and delightful as an artist can get, and find place in Gupta’s book that’s described as “a spiritual journey of a fearsome lunatic’s successes and excesses”.

Venkanna, who graduated with a degree in printmaking from the University of Baroda, was shortlisted for the SKODA prize in 2010 and 2012 and his works feature in major collections such as the Charles Saatchi collection in the UK, the Burger Collection of Switzerland and Swagemakers collection in Netherlands.

5 Questions with the artist, T Venkanna

1. Artistic Motivations “The space between dreams, fantasies and realities.”
2. Inspirations “Life – both lived and imagined.”
3. On the wall at home “Francisco Goya, Diego Velázquez and Tiziano Vecellio (Titian).”
4. Concerns that find a place in your art “Destruction of nature and all things natural.”
5. If you weren’t an artist, you would be….“suicidal!”

Pimp is on display at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai (6/7, 3rd Pasta Lane, Colaba) until October 15, 2015.