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Designs on denims

Solomon Schanner of Bishop Heber College, who is a breed apart, pursues a funky art successfully, writes PRATHIBHA PARAMESWARAN

PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN

ATTRATIVE Making a mark

Friends, films, brawls, jokes, washouts, crests -there is a magic about college life. What stays in mind after we leave are the myriad of those funny instances and the adventures of those cranky-types, who grow to be the best friends. Bishop Heber boys in the city certainly seem to have enough to croon about their precious college years.

Art festivals, basketball matches, a few midnight parties. But most of all, their (un) official rapper is, Solomon Baizil Schanner, a final year Physics student. So what about him? Well, he and his friends have set about changing the campus trend. First out of the wardrobes came all those faded, wrinkled denims, long forgotten in the shelves. Solomon deftly runs his marker over them creating funny designs that rivet the attention.

"It all happened during a variety entertainment show when we were short of events. Solomon draws well and I told him to get his jeans onstage and demonstrate his skills," B. Raja, his big-time pal recollects.

Talent display

Solo's talent display was an instant hit with the audience and won the event too. "I've always been interested in drawing. Sometime last year the idea of creating funky things on the jeans struck me. Ever since I've done quite a few of my friend's denims and charge Rs. 50 per work," says the young artist.

A pale denim with TN-45 (Tiruchi's registration code for vehicles) and some other numericals written in a different font, passed muster at the recently held arts festival in Coimbatore.

An inscription `Sound horn please' took many by surprise and also evoked the "Hey cool!" expression from many onlookers. "The idea developed when a 10-year-old relative scribbled something on my denims. I had to hide that in someway and so just took a marker and started drawing. The designs turned out to be an immediate hit in college," he reminisces. Solomon never uses fabric paints, but sticks to his markers. His designs look better in faded blue denims or in cargos of lighter shade than in black. He first etches the design using an old marker and asks his `client' to hand over the stuff after a wash.

He then works on the design creating a darker impression of the outline he did.

"I try to be creative. Say someone is called Vikram, I add a sun, a few rays and anything that strikes me about that name. My friends generally like what I do and I've been onstage doing variety entertainment shows in competitions finishing a design in a matter of seconds," Solomon confides. For Solo, his art is a new find. His passion is singing, but he is sure he is not going to take up any of this for a livelihood.

Good at rapping

He is good at rapping and his college mates are forever humming the tunes he creates. His "S-tappa, O-tappa" is a popular hit and so is the Thirukkural, which he sings in rap style. His accompaniments are just the desks or tables in front of him, on which he taps on rhythmically as he sings.

"Imagine if the singer who sang this `Uyirin uyire..' song in `Khaka Khakha' or the one who sang the `Oru maalai... ' in `Ghajini' are from a rural background who don't pick up the real scores," he says and bursts into them singing in an absolutely folksy style. His audience comprising Raja and some juniors are soon adrift with laughter.

Solomon is however aware that his funky designs don't have a niche among the older generation. "My parents balk at the idea of me doing such weird stuff. They don't like me doing the rap either," he says. His brief stint with tattoo making also came to an abrupt halt for lack of patronage. He, however, continues to be a basketball player. As he prepares to graduate this session, he carries with him the satisfaction of being and doing something different.

And for all those disapproving frowns, he answers, "At least what I do is less weird than guys tearing up their jeans and scribbling vulgar words on them!"

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