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How Crude!

These women debunk the idea of art being elitist, unreachable and beyond the realm of ordinary understanding through Crude Area.

It’s a small firm as of now – having started operations a month ago in Bandra – but Crude Area has already signed up 20 artists, some of them international names. So probably there is some truth in what they say: all it takes for a great idea to take off is some talent and a whole lot of sincerity.

Bindu Nair Maitra (in the featured image on the left), of the duo that started Crude Area – the other is Shweta Bhandari – as a platform for graphic art, artists and buyers from all over the world, spoke to The Metrognome about the whys and hows of starting the business. “The bingo moment for me (about starting Crude Area) came after I had placed a big order of lovely T-shirts on a famous American website, and over a month later, the order just never reached me. There was a problem at Customs, and though the site refunded my money, I was frustrated to know that merely being willing to pay for things was not enough – those things had to reach consumers, too.”

Bindu has worked in advertising,  and has always loved graphic art – this helps her curate work for the site, while Shweta handles business development. “We target urban professionals in the 25 to 40 age bracket, who are people wanting to do up their homes in ways that express who they were. It was such a simple idea – to bring contemporary graphic art to people at a reasonable price, to customise it as per their needs – and it slowly took shape. We started with art prints, but our future plans include designing iPhone cases, decals, and helping people ‘do up’ walls in their homes,” she says.

However, the focus is on showcasing contemporary Indian graphic art that has moved beyond the “Horn Ok Please category,” as Bindu puts it, and on work that is not kitschy or ‘exotic Indian art’. “Our work is representative of India today, and we provide art that people want for their homes. In a city like Mumbai, where so many people live in rented apartments and are not allowed to drill holes into their walls, we have art that can be stuck on walls.” The pricing is more than competitive, too – the smallest works cost Rs 1,750 and the largest prints are priced at Rs 9,000.

“We’re not offering fine art at all, just lovely contemporary graphic art that nobody else is offering in the country at the moment,” Bindu says. “Also, we’re looking for artists wanting to display their work. The artist has to sign up with us, send us high resolution images of their work, and we do the printing and shipping as per customers’ demand.” The company promises that the product will be delivered to your doorstep within seven days of placing the order; its operations currently include Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

A major learning thus far for the duo has been that more Indian men than women are interested in purchasing quality art for their homes. “Also, we’re constantly reinventing – art is a very subjective thing for everybody, so we’re catering to different tastes all the time. There is so much talent waiting to be showcased, and so many people looking to purchase quality art at a great price. We fulfil the need for both,” Bindu says.

Browse, shop or simply check out graphic art at www.crudearea.com.

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Get guitar lessons at your workplace

Rajendra Vallary will give you lessons if your office agrees. Once a week for six months, learn and play away.

Rajendra Vallury (30) is a genius with the guitar. But merely having a skill is not enough – one has to do something with it. And Rajendra has a great plan – if your office management agrees, he can come to your place of work once a week for six months and teach you how to play the guitar.

The self-taught guitarist, who has worked with singer Hariharan and currently learns from musician Chintu Singh, tells The Metrognome, “I have taught people (to play the guitar) who are in the 55 to 60 age bracket, and they all said that they wanted to learn to play in their childhood, but that they never got the chance. This got me thinking – there must be others like them who would want to learn but who can’t, owing to lack of time.”

Rajendra decided that the one thing that stops people from enrolling for guitar classes is that they work long hours and there’s never any spare time after gruelling work schedules and long home commutes. “So I thought: why not take guitar lessons to their workplace? It would save them time, give them a break to de-stress, and help them bond better with their colleagues as they all played and practiced together,” he explains.

He reasons that many companies set time aside for activities like yoga and salsa, but there’s not much effort spent on getting music in. “There is an increased interest in playing the guitar. While collegians want to learn the most, I find that many of them want to fool around with the guitar to look cool. The most dedicated learners come from the 40 to 50 years age group – they listen to good music, have a set taste, they’re learning out of a genuine interest, and most of them love to go home and play to their wives and husbands!”

Rajendra’s module is simple and flexible: you can choose to have a class once or twice a week, for an hour per session. “I have divided the programme into 24 sessions in all, and since the activity is meant to de-stress the students, they have the option of picking the songs they want to learn,” he explains. During the session, he teaches students on getting to know the instrument, various musical terms, finger training, various chords and their positions, and scales and melodies. “At the end, students can showcase what they’re learnt with a small performance,” he says.

More than enthusiasm, however, Rajendra says he stresses on practice at home and carrying your own guitar to learn on. “Even though the exercise is aimed at relaxing and having fun, you still have to go home and practice before the next class,” he says.

Rajendra Vallury has been giving guitar lessons for 10 years now and has taught over 1,500 people till date. Write to him at rajendravallury@gmail.com for details on corporate guitar lessons.

 

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‘Dear Prime Minister…’

Youth website offers you the chance to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on an issue close to your heart.

Our biggest grouse,  often, is that we are a democracy that doesn’t always get heard. We often have a really simple solution to a problem that has plagued the nation for a long while, but who do we tell it to?

What if you had the chance to tell your ideas to the Prime Minister of the country himself?

The Viewspaper (www.theviewspaper.net), a youth-oriented website that addresses all the issues closest to the hearts of young Indians, is running a Letter-a-thon titled ‘PMji Samjho ji!’, under which it invites you to write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on an issue that you feel strongly about. You can write the letter on December 2, which has been designated for the Letter-a-thon, and the letter you write will be sent to the PM for his consideration. It will also be published on The Viewspaper.

Says Aisha, Editor, The Viewspaper, “PMji Samjhoji! is completely apolitical and our aim is to offer the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh ideas and advice to help him steer India through its problems and lead it to its deserved greatness. Not just individuals but even organizations like The YP Foundation, which is India’s largest youth NGO, will be participating. Celebrities, journalists, politicians, bloggers, professionals, doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs, activists, youth from all over the country will be sharing their perspectives.”

Eminent journalists like Madhu Trehan (Founding Editor, India Today), Sonia Singh (Editorial Director, NDTV), activists like Abhinandan Sekhri (Core Member, India Against Corruption), eminent educationists like Dr Amit Kapoor (Professor, Harvard Business School and MDI) and musicians like Parikrama are some of those who have confirmed their participation.

To participate, click on http://theviewspaper.net/pmjisamjhoji/ for information, and watch the video to understand the initiative better.

 

(Picture courtesy AFP)

 

 

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Pop-up shop at Andheri this weekend

Fashion website Squarekey brings a two-day pop up shop in Andheri. Featured brands include Nicole Miller, Cynthia Rowley and others.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

Fashion website www.squarekey.com is bringing an exciting, international pop up shop in Mumbai over the weekend, at The Club, Andheri. Brands on sale include BCGC Max Azria, DL 1961, Nicole Miller, Hanky Panky, James Jeans, Milly Minis, Cynthia Rowley, Little Pim, and many others. You can visit tomorrow and Sunday between noon to 7 pm.

 

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Your mattress could be killing your back

Bad mattress giving you a painful and sore back? We list 10 tips to help you buy the perfect mattress.
By The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

Sulakshmi Reddy (22) moved to Mumbai from her parents’ home in Satara a year ago. Within weeks of arriving in the city, she developed a niggling back ache. “I thought it was because I was travelling by crowded trains and running about all day. Doctors just prescribed pain medication. I even took up yoga classes to get rid of the pain altogether,” she says. However, the pain showed no signs of abating – in fact, she would often wake up with a stiff back. “It would just get worse as the day progressed,” Sulakshmi says.

Then a physiotherapist zeroed in on her problem. “At my uncle’s place, where I was staying in Mumbai, I used to sleep on a cot with a very thin mattress. I could almost feel the iron body of the cot under the mattress. On the physiotherapist’s advice, I changed my sleeping place for a week, living with a friend who had a good, thick mattress on her bed. The back pain was noticeably reduced,” Sulakshmi remembers.

Poorly-designed mattresses account for back pain in several people. “People just don’t realise the importance of a good mattress. The mattress one uses should be firm, designed to align gently (not squishily) with the spine when one sleeps, and should be sturdy enough to not sag too soon,” says Dr Jayesh Garodia, orthopaedic surgeon. “However, it should not be so firm and sturdy that the person feels like he is sleeping on a flat board.”

Luckily enough, mattresses that are specially designed to combat stresses and pressures have also recently hit Indian markets. Says S K Malhotra, director, sales and marketing for Spring Fit, that has come out with the orthopedically-designed Ortholife mattress, “The high pressure of creating a work-life balance and long hours spent commuting often lead to muscular discomfort and chronic back ache. Using a moderately firm mattress adapts better to the concavities and convexities of the spine leading to better pressure distribution.”

But if you’re just looking for a simple spring mattress, you’ll have to know what goes into making it. Says G Shankar Ram, Joint Managing Director, Peps Industries Pvt Ltd., spring mattresses should have a high carbon spring steel base, cotton felt, foam and a quilted cover. “The base can be varied to make the mattress soft or firm. Cotton felt is put in to absorb excess loads and distribute them evenly. Foam contours itself to different body pressure points, and relaxes the body, while the quilted cover must look and feel attractive and comfortable,” he says.

Get the right mattress today:

G Shankar Ram’s 10 tips to remember when buying a mattress:

1. Purchase a good quality mattress. Research the brand you select – there should be no complaints of sagging or lumping.

2. Select a store that displays mattresses and lets you touch and feel the products.

3. Take your partner along for the purchase. Both of you should be comfortable with the same mattress.

4. Have a look at all the mattresses on display and educate yourself on the various types.

5. Do not feel shy or embarrassed about testing the mattress. Lie down on it and listen to the signals your body and mind give you about the different types of mattresses. Let your partner also lie down and give feedback.

6. Thickness is important. Measure the height of your bed from the floor. This will decide the thickness of mattress that you should buy. Remember that the mattress should be such that your feet touch the floor when you get off the bed.

7. A recommended height for your bed is a maximum of 14 inches from the ground.

8. Today, Indian mattress thicknesses range from four inches to six inches. Internationally, mattresses are about eight inches thick, and these contour with the body much better.

9. A normal mattress must be flipped from head to toe and reversed often. This extends the life of the mattress, ensures the manufacturer’s warranty and prevents early sagging. A luxurious mattress is one on which you sleep on only the top side. These must be rotated from head to toe every three months so that load points are changed and the foam can regain its dexterity.

10. Understand the dealer’s warranty before taking a call on your final purchase – take into account the type of use the mattress will be subjected to, the materials contained therein and what you expect from its use.

 

 

 

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Artful on the iPad

Artist KV Sridhar says his iPad allows him the liberty to finish a 3 x 4 canvas in two hours. Plus, he lists his favourite apps.
By The Diarist | diarist@themetrognome.in

KV Sridhar calls himself ‘an artist by training and an ad man by profession’. The national creative director of Leo Burnett India describes himself on his blog thus: From humble beginnings as a Bollywood film billboard painter to the National Creative Director of Leo Burnett India, Pops (as he is popularly known) has seen it all, and today is widely respected as a creative leader in the Indian ad world.’

When did you decide to create paintings using your iPad?

Some time in March or April 2011, when I started to flirt with the iPad. I stumbled upon some cool drawing apps and I started to explore them out of curiosity, till I found what I wanted. I found the perfect app to create oil on canvas.

What was it like, having completed the first work of art in totality? How different is the experience from painting on paper or a canvas?

Terrific. After the initial experimentation, I settled down to paint seriously and it took me a couple of hours to complete a 3 feet x 4 feet canvas. The iPad is the closest in terms of gratification, because of the touch screen. It is also as if you were painting on a real surface of paper or canvas. Various painting software were available for desktop computers for a very long time, but it kept the serious fine artist away because of the format – you had to draw on a tablet whilst looking at the monitor, and the hand-eye coordination is different from that of painting on paper.

Which app did you use?

After downloading loads of apps, here are the best of best, in my opinion:

– Art Rage: It’s the best for oil on canvas, but also a complete studio with oil, water, pastels and knives with millions of colours.

– Auryn Ink: The best for water colour with a good paper texture, and with wet and dry water trails option.

– SketchBook PRO: Great for random product drawings and sketches.

– Zen Brush: For wet paper Japanese-style work.

– Sketch Club: The Instagram version for sketching artists, and you can share your work with other artists in real time.

-ASKetch: The best for charcoal-like drawings.

– Paper53: Great for freehand drawings or illustrations.

My favorite is Art Rage and it is the best for oil on canvas with a resolution of 2048 x 2048. You can print on canvas at a very high resolution. [On his blog, he describes the use of Art Rage thus: ‘Art Rage gave me a complete studio of 2,000 square feet with innumerable capacity to store canvases both painted and new, hundreds of tubes of colours free with infinite shades, entire sets of hog hair and sable hair brushes, palate and painting knives, rollers etc, all this lifetime supplies for a meagre $7.00.’ (approx Rs 385)]

Can absolutely anybody use the iPad to draw?

Of course anyone can, but if a trained artist does, it shows. There is virtually no difference between digital and real, apart from the colour smells.

How many paintings did you finish?

For my first show, I painted 36 paintings in less then three months. In a normal course of time, painting oil on canvas would have taken me three years, at the very least. The first iPops show was held from June 11 to 30, 2011 at the Scarecrow Gallery (Mumbai).

Why did you decide to hold an exhibition? And how did people respond to it?

My artist friends who saw my work were amazed by the results, and encouraged me to exhibit. I was a bit nervous, since my last one-man show had been way back in 1984, but fortunately I had a great response from the advertising and media industry in general, and the art-buying community, while the conventional artist community put me and my work under close observation. I had done many shows for my conventional paintings from 1978 to 1984, but my iPad paintings only once. Ultimately, I am happy that I sold my work to help the girl child in our country. I sold work close to Rs 5 lakh and donated the proceeds to charity. Interestingly, the money come from friends and well- wishers, rather than hesitant art collectors.

Are you currently working on any new paintings?

iPops: Yes. I am working on a new series called ‘Sisters’. Again, this is to promote two girl children in a family, as it is becoming a rarity to have two daughters these days. Every family wants an ‘ideal’ family with a boy and girl, hence in future we may not see sisters. My attempt is to put focus on this issue. I am planning to have my second iPad painting showing in New Delhi before the end of 2012, and in Colombo and Los Angeles next year.

Meanwhile, check out these new iPad apps if you want to draw, paint, or generally get arty.  

Inspire Pro

 

Genre: Entertainment

Price: $7.99 (approx Rs 442)

Languages: English

Try Inspire Pro and you will quickly see that it is a painting app like no other! The key feature is the simulation of wet oil paint on canvas, allowing amazing blending effects with five real kinds of brushes. Whether you’re a beginner, expert, or somewhere in between, you will enjoy the simplicity and power of Inspire Pro.

Sketchbook Express

Genre: Entertainment

Price: Free

Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish

Autodesk SketchBook Express for iPad is a fun and intuitive drawing application. Use professional grade tools and brushes to create doodles, quick sketches or artwork on-the-go.

My brushes for iPad

 

Genre: Entertainment

Price: $1.99 (approx Rs 110)

Languages: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

MyBrushes is a unique painting application designed to create images and play back the whole painting process. It has 100 kinds of realistic brush styles to simulate the effect of brush painting, water colour painting, oil painting, Chinese painting, drawing, Chinese calligraphy, etc.

Wasabi Paint

 

Genre: Photo and video

Price: $2.99 (approx Rs 165)

Language: English

For  abstract and impressionist artists, Wasabi Paint is an immersive and tactile digital paint experience. Taking a different approach to other painting apps, its hyper-realistic 3D oil paint can be pushed, pulled, smudged, thrown and splashed around. This app is developed to allow an Impasto style of painting, in which thick paint is laid on with a 3D effect.

InkPaint

 

Genre: Entertainment

Price: $3.99 (approx Rs 220)

Language: English

Create beautiful artwork on the go with InkPaint. InkPaint allows new and experienced artists alike to quickly create beautiful cartoons or illustrations through its distinctive four-step work flow – 1) Rough out your drawing in Sketch mode 2) Neatly outline your work in ink 3) Colour your drawing with paint 4) Use the shade tools to add depth.

Draw

 

Genre: Utilities

Price: $0.99 (approx Rs 55)

Languages: English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish

Create amazing art work with Draw. Draw makes drawing fun using innovative tools. Once you complete your work of art, you can edit it, apply effects, stickers, etc and then share it with friends.

Art Studio

 

Genre: Photo & Video

Price: $4.99 (approx Rs 275)

Language: English

ArtStudio is a very comprehensive sketching, painting and photo editing tool. Completely re-designed from the ground up, the new ArtStudio features a beautiful new user interface and a powerful new graphics engine to make creating works of art faster, easier, and more fun.

The Diarist is a tech junkie, and if you’re reading this, chances are you are, too. If you’d like to tell us about something new in tech, write to thediarist@themetrognome.in.

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