Sarasvathy TK : A palette of Indian delicacies on canvas

The greatest artists on this planet never went to attend any art colleges to learn the basics of fine art. Art is such a discipline which evolves in a person on its own. Over the Centuries art was restricted only to the Royal families of Europe, because the finest art used to be  displayed in the palaces and museums. Until two decades back only those who could have afford to visit museums located in Metropolitan cities were able to view art canvases of few selective famous artists. But in recent years digital technology and widespread use of social media made the finest art reach to the palms of every statra of people.

Fine art not only means portraits of famous personalities or the picturesque scenes of mountains, meadows or the rivers. In the recent years different artists have specialised in a particular subject of their own choice. For example Bijay Biswal of Nagpur focuses specifically on railway engines and platforms, on the other hand Ramesh Jhawar of Bangalore is someone who does the paintings of Indian street vendors. Likewise there is an Indian born US artist by the name Sarasvathy TK who specialises in doing art of different Indian cuisines. Her art on food from different parts of India is a delight to the eyes of the beholder. 

What is worth admiring about this artist is, she never attended any art schools or colleges. In her life except in the school drawing book she never dabbled her hands anywhere else to draw any sketches or played with the water colors. In life she never contemplated being an artist. She was just chasing her career to be a software engineer. 

By vocation she is a software professional and was working with IBM. She was handling the work of prestigious clients like the Ministry of Defence, Singapore. At Singapore once she visited an art exhibition along with her husband. She was immensely moved looking at the art canvases. At the venue itself she told her husband that she would like to be an artist. Her husband said he will look after the finance to manage the home and she may pursue her new found passion. It is worth a note in life Sarasvathy has got no antecedent to fine art.

As a beginner Sarasvathy started scribing a pencil on the paper. After doing a couple of sketches  she started applying colors on the canvas . Initially she did landscape art and on perfecting that she shifted to painting still life.

As a homemaker it is the responsibility of Sarasvathy to cook food at home. She observed there are many artists who have done the paintings of different western food. But when she browsed the web she did not find paintings exclusively on Indian food. She thought to do justice to the Indian food which has nourished her entire life. Under the series titled "Bhojan" until now she has painted as many as eleven art works.  

Under this series of paintings the very first subject that she painted was six idlis served in a plate and they are complemented with bowls of sambar and coconut chutney. You can find a few fried curry leaves sprinkled on top of those idlis, as if an icing on the cake. The green curry leafs are highly aromatic and an essential ingredient while preparing any South indian dishes be it Sambar, Chutney or Rasham. It is worth a note how the white color idlis are being displayed in a glass plate which is white itself, furthermore the coconut chutney is also white in texture, yet you would be able to distinguish one item from the other. She took as much as six months to complete that single art.

                              

The art of idlis was followed by a plate of dosa along with a katori of sambar. The dosa looks to be crispy and the color of sambar is enticing. This dosa has got over 5,000 micro circles and this artist kept painting for days together to complete that project. 

The art of two samosas placed on a white plate is worth appraising. Those two singadas appear to be crispy, but the green pudina chutney along with the red tomato chutney is a perfect complement to them. Saliva ought to leak from the mouth who so ever looks at this painting.

And for the sweet tooth she has painted a canvas of gulab jamuns. She cooked few Gulab Jamuns in her kitchen and placed seven of it on a glass plate. She sprinkled pistachio on top of them. She clicked over 150 photographs with her DSLR camera to catch the micro details. She transferred the photographs to her computer and observed then with minute details to paint it. You would definitely agree these Gulab Jamuns looks lustrous and soft. A mere look at this painting will make you feel lifting one Gulab Jamun and gulping in your mouth at one go.        

Now this blogger ask you to judge if the following glass of  mouth leaking mango shake is a photograph or a painting?

While walking through the art corridor of life, she confesses that she has committed a lot many mistakes. Her art is an outcome of all the trial and errors. She says there is nothing ado about her art and took an excuse saying she have to prepare dinner for the evening.

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