Gopi Mangalath

There are many people who don multiple feathers in their hat. Versatile creative persons would be such people. They are not bound by their field of studies or their job, in whatever they do. They understand well that sheer creativity do not bring in bread always. One needs food always, bills needs to be paid. The concept of certain blue blooded critics and artists that the profession or studies of a person influencing/affecting their work and resulting in substandard works dosent bother these realistic and self respecting breed of creative people, who are willing to try out whatever that sets them free. Gopi Mangalath is one such person. He is a creative director, movie director, visual artist, writer, poet and columnist. He is a publisher too with Golden Jokes Books and Monthly. He dedicated his life for the new and unique ideas in arts and literature. He is a graduate of Botany, as well as Applied Arts ( BFA Applied Arts, from the Government College of Fine Arts in Thiruvananthapuram). Experimentation with texture, style, size, shape and colours are Gopi’s forte. He has conducted 8 exhibitions on paintings and sculptures and also participated in Kerala state Lalithakala Academy’s annual exhibition and painters camp etc. He received award for the Logo of Kochi Smart City. He has three Limca Book of World Records for First One Line Stories, First Film Role Book Design and First Abstract Film. He wrote the concise history of Cinema in miniature size in the form of a film role. The Abstract film by him is a murder mystery created without any title, dialogues or any animal, birds, human beings or not even an ant; but with a clear story line and characters. He also has 2 Best of India records. His poetry "Sterile Feelings' was translated and published into 'Poet', an the Intercontinental magazine . He wrote a column on visual art in a Malayalam newspaper's Sunday supplement for a year and his programmes have featured in TV and radio.

 

First film role book design that won him one of his three Limca Book of World Records.

One of his interviews

Logo designed by Gopi Mangalath for White Sanctum Art Gallery

Face of White Sanctum series of facebook based online exhibitions post designs designed by Gopi Mangalath

 

Gopi's creativity flows into various areas of art and literature. Bringing out novel methods in everything he deals with. He experiments with different styles of art... He doesn't look far for inspirations. His references are from things nearby. The cattle that graze in the nearby plots graze on to his colors and forms. His cow series of works have found much appreciation from galleries and connoisseurs. 

He also makes images inspired from local religious or ethnographic contexts and depicts them in his way giving respect to the image. 

His works flow even to the topics such as sensuality where the nature's procreating strength sways and intermingles to form sensuous images that "breathes life" in a lifeless canvas. 

[Images courtesy: Gopi Mangalath]

The artist, though from applied arts background and with work as a publisher etc to be sustainable, gives his best when he turns to art, whenever he can. He have been closely observing the art of many artists in Kerala consistently since past decades and that is why he is a natural critic of art works. His articles on art come in many monthlies and other media.

These four pictures are of his article in Yeyuthu Magazine published in September 2020. It gives a vivid a description of his native place along with an interesting communication with Guru Nithyachaithanya Yati on aesthetics and art. Gopi shared anecdotes about this beautiful series of doubts and their answers given by the Guru, without ever realising that they would feature as articles later. These can be referred by young artists stepping into a world where half knowledge is being decorated and displayed as the ultimate rules. The beauty of Gopi's writings are their no nonsense simplicity and experience, along with the serene descriptive flow almost like water. 

[Image courtesy: Gopi Mangalath and Yeyuthu Magazine]

An Artist who Infuses Color to Culture, Literature and Arts

Rick Hunt is an artist who learnt art from Franconia and Massachusetts College of Art for illustration and fine art. He also did a BS in psychology from Lesley University in Cambridge Massachusetts. He was mentored internationally by the artist Kenneth Westhaver. Later his mentor adviced him that one should go to art school, learn everything can and hone your skills...get out...and forget it all. He developed his style of painting which a mix of psychedelic/ pop/sci-fi/confessional. Rick’s work has been influenced mostly by musicians rather than other visual artists. He admire Jackson Pollock, De Kooning...Many inspirations just come from his life experience...Rick has ALWAYS created art ever since he could pick up a pencil. He feels that he became a serious artist at the age of twelve... Rick says that the music of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and most recently Anoushka Shankar is influencing his work... Rick created a series of paintings on Abenaki, the indigenous native American tribe along with the native American artists. This series of paintings focuses on creating Maine-based conversations like those taking place nationally about contemporary issues, as expressed through Native art. It is about Native identity in this society at this time, and the challenges one experiences living ‘Indian’ in our various ‘worlds’. In 2011, Rick met the famed actress, singer, author, poet, businesswoman, cultural icon and American scholar Angela Bowie in the social cyberworld of facebook. When Angela made “The Angie Bowie Show” page on Facebook, Rick did a two feet high by three feet long drawing for the title page and sent it to Angela in the mail. The beautiful painting became the title page and the beginning of their collaboration, which started with the book “Cat-Astrophe” which was published last year followed by “Fancy Footwork”. Rick illustrated poems of Angie for both her books. They also collaborated on two books of Rick’s artwork, “Gaucho Visions” and “Gaucho Visions II”, with Rick providing the images. They even had in exclusive show in radio, with “The Angie Bowie Barnett Show”. They started it as a forum for inviting their creative, talented friends to talk about themselves and their art, with all enjoying a spirit of fellowship, laughter and mutual appreciation. Rick is also illustrating a lot of David Bowie-esque type imagery because of all the projects he works with Angela Bowie. Rick also is part of a band The Dream Foundry where along with his friends Kevin Wallbank and Sally Sharp- Paulsen wrote and recorded songs from being in different places. They are an example of how changes in music technology, and shared objective can result in a band creating music in two different countries. The Dream Foundry had been graced with many brilliant portraits by Rick over the years; as with Angie and her poetry, no other artist could have expressed them and their sound perfectly through visual interpretation. Rick has been doing illustrations of songs as well as his brilliant illustrations of the band and Collective Rick’s lines and colors sway with the music of the band of Dream Foundry, with the poems of Angela and even with the social identity of the native tribe of America. Rick’s illustrations breathes life into the beautiful verses of Angela’s poetry and stories. It comes with thorough understanding that Rick has about the people, their culture, literature, art and music, that he is involved with. 

 

The malayalam version of this post was published in the malayalam monthly magazine 'Prasadakan' in its October 2020 edition.