Murals — Hemu

Now and then, I break free from my smaller scale projects and miniatures to work on large scale murals or large size commissions. I love the larger scale to work with because it lets me explore precision, control and a breadth of art making where I focus on the art with different parameters of constraints. Here are some of the pieces documented.

COLLABORATIVE WALL MURAL WITH DONATOS AND GREATER COLUMBUS ARTS COUNCIL (FALL 2018), Columbus, OH

This is a collaborative wall mural at the John Glenn International Columbus airport, with the Donatos franchise in the concourse. The idea for the design of ‘Faces of Columbus’ 42’ long wall mural was created and implemented by Allison Westrick, Design Principal and Founder of Sketch Blue Brand Identity + Retail Design, in conjunction with the Greater Columbus Arts Council. The artists were handpicked and invited to do three portraits each of people from Columbus in all its cultural diversity, and I was happy to be invited to be one of the artists. The portraits I did were of Jim, a happy homeless man on High street who is very well-acquainted with the students of Ohio State, a local West Campus bus driver whom I call ‘Happy Harold’, and myself. I think it was important for me to do the portraits of Jim and Harold as my initial interactions in this city, but also because they fall in a demographic that are sometimes easily overlooked. So, if you spot either of these people, please don’t forget to tell them hi! They’re awesome folks!

The mural also garnered some press in the morning news (image courtesy: Hakim Callwood) and other local press. Some of these images are courtesy of those papers. Check out the articles here: Donatos Unveils Art Mural in John Glenn Columbus International Airport | Donatos Pizza Partners With Artists to Create Airport Mural Celebrating Diversity

LARGE COMMISSIONED HEMU’S “SUPERDOODLE” BY THE VILUPURUS (SUMMER 2018), Orange County, CA

I have been developing a distinct style of doodling in the past year that I refer to as a ‘super-doodle’ (see more here). They are intricately narrated doodles of people’s lives, their surroundings, and emotions. When this style started distinctly coming up, I was commissioned by the Vilupurus from California to be flown out to create a large 5’x4’ super doodle of their family. You can view the time-lapse of this piece here:

I have been recently exploring a personal style of telling stories by layering narratives using intricate doodles (sometimes even mixed media by using underlays from my other pieces of art). They usually reveal some of my deepest feelings at the time in a maze, my mood, and events that I wanted to record.

COMMISSIONED WALL MURAL OF SHIV SMOKING BONG (WINTER 2015-2016), Dublin, OH

This piece was commissioned by my clients Subas and Raxita, originally from Nepal who wanted a large-scale version of Shiva smoking pot for their basement den. We co-designed it as a part of my independent MFA exploratory research, as well. This piece took about 11 hours and was done using acrylic paints sealed with a lacquer finish.

Check out the process time-lapse video for this piece here:

Here is a quick time-lapse video of a recently commissioned wall art that I completed in Columbus, Ohio. The clients wanted a large-scale version of Shiva smoking pot for their basement den and it was an interesting concept to work on. We co-designed it as a part of my independent MFA exploratory research as well.

THE BABAJI SERIES | WORLD ART CAFE (APRIL 2015), Chennai, India

Hypnautyx Entertainment, a production house company + World Art Cafe, a YouTube art channel asked me if I’d be interesting in painting the walls at their office, as a part of an artist feature for their art channel. It’s called The Babaji Series and it’s inspired by the many sadhus I met on a trip to Varanasi, in North India. Acrylic paints on Stucco-plastered wall.

Check out the full feature video here:

Checkout the Hemu's Funky New version of Varanasi Babaji series.

SHIV, BREAKING BAD (FALL 2015), Chennai, India

My parent went to work and I had a wall, that’s pretty much the story here! :)

Watch the time-lapse here:

This is a wall painting I indulged in over a span of over 7-8 hours using acrylic paint and sketchpens for detailing purposes. I find Shiva to be a brilliant cosmic force and destroyer of the bad, and in good timing too. This is a part of the Shiva Series Artwork I do on my art blog.