capturing emotions on the canvas

BANGALORE: Painting involves numerous media and among us Bangaloreans is a guy who paints with charcoal. Rupesh Patric plays two roles in the society. By profession he is a Software Consultant  for Microsoft and post office hours he is a renowned artist. His works are popular for the medium he uses to paint. He brings out abstract art through the combination of black and white, with the help of charcoal on the canvas.Charcoal painting is unique compared to painting with colours. He says, “I paint the canvas with a sticky substance and then powder the charcoal. And with the help of a brush I paint on to the canvas.” His works have been popular among the MNC employees. For the past four years, he has collected his best work and launched a desktop calendar as a fund raiser for charity.Rupesh says, “Most of the companies buy this calendar in plenty for their staff. We custom design calendars for the company as well. We print the company’s name on the calendar. And most of them wont think twice about buying this calendar because all the money collected is going for a good cause.”This year he went with a theme Vimochana 2012, named after an NGO that provides a forum for women rights. He says, “I have taken all my previous works that portrays women. Usually I go with a theme of children and orphanages but this time, things are a bit different.” No matter which theme he goes by, with his work someone out there is living a desirable life despite being a neglected person in the society.The new calendar has charcoal paintings about women which are abstract. And, to add more depth to his paintings, he used his friend Akshatha Shetty’s help to write poetry for each image. The poetry and the images go hand in hand making it a beautiful desktop calendar. The calendar was launched at the Sublime Galleria at UB City on Friday. Along with this Rupesh had few of his works on display as well, among various other works by artists from the city. Before the launch of the calendar, he interacted with the students of Smile Foundation and gave them a crash course on charcoal painting. Along with this, there were also Christmas celebrations organised for the students who sang carols by the tree.The eye catcher in the exhibition was one of his works, Time Traveller’s Wife. The beauty of this painting is the shared lines which he drew with the help of charcoal. Next to this was another abstract painting called Who Burned the Bridges? Rupesh says, “ I get my inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. It could be from a joke, movie, ad, or even a friend or a foe. When I am stuck with an idea I make a note about it, and work on it later.”