Interview with Sameer Kulavoor

I first saw his broken bangles exhibit on Halt domestic Violence Campaign in Mumbai. Following his ad campaigns with tongue-in-cheek humour and colloquial under notes became a passion. Refreshing graphics minus the cliched kitsch, it’s not hard to see why illustrator Sameer Kulavoor has been making waves in the world of graphic arts. Remember the petal faced Dove lady? Or graphics on NH7 Weekender Music Festival. Of course my personal favorite is his collection of sketches in his limited edition book- Sidewalks and Coffeshops. I got chatting with him last month and heres what I got-

Illustrator Sameer Kulavoor

Can we start with a little about yourself? Why are you an Illustrator?

I’d call myself more a visual artist than an illustrator. Maybe even a designer or a director of animation. I’ve always liked to sketch, scribble, make flip-books out of my school textbook, collect magazine cut outs and create scrapbooks and collages out of them, make weird characters with coloured paper, get my hands dirty with my favourite green sketch-pen and basically create images, some that are still, some that move. I realise I’m doing similar things now, but only in an altered context, on a different scale, and with more varied mediums.

With your work being multi disciplinary, what would you call personal and what would you call professional work?

I’d call myself as a cultural worker. The kind of projects I do, contributes to perspective of people. So all my commercial work will have an underlying story… Zerox the zeroxwallah zine is one of my favourite projects. The zerox shops in Mumbai are omnipresent and easily spottable due to their distinct yellow black “identity”. They are usually chaotic and haphazard with signboards that could drive a type-designer a headache.The interiors are equally bold and chaotic, if not more. But they are indispensable for the numerous students and office-goers who frequent them. The overall mish-mash of everything around and inside the Zeroxwallah shop makes it visually quirky and interesting. The smell of the toner combined with the sounds of a bustling tiny shop can be a heavy dose to all your senses. Frequenting the Zeroxwallahs during my art/design school (Sir J. J. Institute of applied art) intrigued me and the zine is a way to translate my experiences into a tangible product. The use of photocopy for the book was an obvious choice. And the dash of yellow screenprint over photocopy gives it the perfect character and feel. A limited edition zine was the best way to bring out the spontaneity of the Zeroxwallahs of Mumbai. This zine is one of the many parallel personal projects that BombayDuckDesigns works on so we are not completely gutted with (sometimes mundane) commercial work and it also helps to keep our work fresh and inspiring.

Is it possible for an artist to work on a fully commercial level?

Yes and no. There are some artists who can create commercial art full time but that is an ideal situation. I constantly draw. That keeps me going. That is where all my ideas come from. In mid 2009, I had taken a short sabbatical to travel and the result was a limited edition booklet of personal sketches ‘Sidewalks & Coffeeshops’.

The piece of your work that you take most pride in?

The Mothers Pride “Love blossoms here” series of illustrations that won a Cannes Gold Lion in Design in June 2011.

Your design style-

The core of my work is mostly highly inspired by the chaos of Mumbai, the city where I grew up. You could call my work edgy and eclectic.

Sameer's artwork

Your favourite design tools-

My design tablet, some beer, music and lots of seafood.

What are the biggest inspirations for your illustrations?

Cats, cycles, coffees, Connaught Place and Colaba. When I was in Rajasthan, I was visiting the Jaisalmer fort. The massive fort was a like a little village inside. It was a visual extravaganza. There were artists, sketchbooks, lot of folk art and interesting people with myriad expressions. The miniature paintings have beautiful lines and colours on the walls. The place ended up being a huge inspiration. I’m not a big fan of kitsch. It is very shallow. It is just taking a style and using it. Every second artist has taken up truck cars and autorickshaws as their muse.

Any interesting projects lines up for 2012?

Keeping up with the pace and energy of the song (and the city) we’d be creating the LOVEDRUG CLIMBDOWN music video for Pentagram in a month. Also, me and my friend Lokesh , after cribbing a whole lot about lack of art zines in India (to showcase upcoming and established visual/graphic artists and illustrators work) we took matters in our own hands. With 100% focus on one theme we have invited select artists to contribute an artwork based on their interpretation and imagination of the said theme. The project is getting more exciting by the day…

Which are your hobbies which add to your profession?

Music and travel. I feel everybody needs them to keep themselves inspired through the usual humdrum of daily lives.

Pick a song to describe your state of mind-

Lot of electronic.

An illustrator who fascinates you-

Not too many honestly. But I really admire the works of the artist Raja Ravi Verma.

Mac or PC?

Mac, anyday.

If you could live in any other part of the world right now, it’d be –

Berlin.

Know Sameer and his work more at Bombay Duck Designs