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PASSING THROUGH

Art in a jiffy Passing through

Line of work Joby Chacko captures an image on paper Photo: S. Mahinsha

Standing around a stall covered with pictures at the Spice exhibition in Sree Mulam Club is an unusually large crowd, intently watching an artist at work. The artist, with a charcoal pencil in hand, is furiously sketching the face of his subject on a canvas. Lo! And behold, five minutes later, there appears on the canvas an amazingly detailed portrait of the subject!

The artist is Thrissur-based Joby Chacko who is in the city promoting his talent. “For me there is nothing more exciting than putting charcoal to canvas and recreating a face,” gushes Joby. Admittedly, there are others who can draw portraits, but Joby’s speciality lies in drawing detailed likenesses in under five minutes. “Most artists take at least 20 minutes to half an hour to draw portraits. I’ve noticed that when people are at an exhibition or fair they don’t like to wait around much. So I try to draw as quickly as possible,” he adds.

It took Joby years of practice to get this level of fluidity in his strokes. He started off by reproducing pictures of famous people such as Gandhiji and Prem Nazir, before he turned to live subjects. According to him, the trick to drawing faces lies in capturing the essence of the eyes. “The eyes are the most instantly recognisable and most expressive feature of a face. If you can draw them in perfect proportion, properly spaced apart, then 50 per cent of your work is done,” explains this graduate in fine arts. “Imagine that the entire canvas is divided into squares. This makes it relatively easy to sketch outlines in correct proportion, which can be later filled in with unique details of each face,” he adds.

Portraiture is now a full time job for this former advertising executive and father of two handicapped children. He has travelled all over India and the Gulf countries and his portraits which cost not more than Rs.100, coupled with his speed at drawing always elicit a good response. He has been a regular at the Dubai Shopping festival (DSF) for the past four years. “DSF is always an exciting challenge, not to mention a lucrative endeavour. I get to draw people of different ethnicities, each with their own distinctive facial characteristics. I love drawing people of African origin. They have such bold facial features. In comparison those of Caucasians seem almost bland,” reveals the talented artist.

Joby’s biggest pleasure, however, lies in the joy evident on the faces of his customers when he presents them their portraits. He recounts how an old Arabic lady, with tears in her eyes, kissed his hand after he sketched an exact replica of her veiled granddaughter. “I live for those moments,” he says.

Currently, Joby is working up a repertoire of portraits of famous Malayalis. He has already sketched people like Kunhunni Master, Kanayi Kunjuraman, artist Nampoothiri and a few film stars. “Nothing beats live sketching. My fondest wish is to do a live sketch of Mammootty,” says the artist.

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