Today on the blog, we feature, full time artist, Ar. Mons Selvam. Meet the maker at the February 2020 edition of By Hand from the Heart Makers Market in Chennai.

Tell us a bit about yourself. 

I come from a village near Erode from an ambitious family of high performers. I had a very vivid rural childhood, yet there was a clinging passive melancholy growing up during my adolescence. After a bumpy journey, I finally found a route to rebuild myself over all the trauma of my growing years and manifest something to build my confidence. I drew three hundred and fifty meters of cartoon strip on the story which I always celebrated – my vivid rural childhood of happiness and togetherness. And I proved my inner world and beyond, that ambitions with compassion and humaneness can still stand high. From there I looked forward to fill the world with happiness, compassion and unconditional love through my art and beyond.

From learning architecture to experiencing life in Cuckoo school, from learning compassion in Seva Cafe to selling self made goodies on the streets of Bangalore, from working with St+art India to starting my own design studio ‘Masala Pencils’ with my closest friends, from parting ways to making way for a Guinness World Record, I have redefined my reality.

Why did you become a maker?  Why is making so important to you?   

I am a maker ever since I was born. More than a maker, I was and am a doer. Doing or manifesting, if we may call so, is so important to me because I am a person full of energy. I go unstable if I am not making/ manifesting my high energy in some form. By making art I just transcend myself to a more divine space.

How did you begin ?

Four years back, I thought that I cannot draw. And today, here I am drawing portraits, cartoons, comic strips in colour pencils, acrylic paints and digital. Everything started because of my best friend who believed in me when I could not believe in myself. I drew and I only shared them with him but it was him who posted them on social media. To my surprise, people loved my work and that gratification gave me the confidence to make more and it still does.

 
What is the story behind your brand name?

I make art under my own name because I see my work as an extension of myself and they grow as I grow and I evolve as they evolve.

 
How has your business evolved over the years? 

From illustrations being made to share on social media to sell them on different product range today, me and my works have come a long way.

Your work space & the artisans you work with.

I work alone in my home studio with my few plant babies along. My studio has a huge cupboard for all my tools and books, a table corner with my vision board on the wall, an Easel with a stool and all my artworks lying on the floor and leaning on the wall, all ready to be shipped.

Your favourite work tool.

I love all my tools. I am a proud stationery hoarder.  But my colour pencils top them all, second being my Easel. Sitting and painting in my Easel is a different level experience that I cant put in words. I enjoy it.

What is currently on your work table?

I am having a personal project in mind where I will be painting faceless portraits of people and tell their untold stories that they feel shameful off and that makes them to stay anonymous and keep it as their deep dark secret. The mission of the project is to make others who have undergone the same thing in their life to feel that they aren’t alone. By 2020, I am looking forward to start working on this project and my vision is to make 100 such artworks and tell 100 such stories in the next 2 years. Fingers crossed.

What is your personal favourite pick from your brand right now? And why?

I put all my energy and mind into any work that I do. But for a teeny tiny little bit, ‘Sigappi’ is more closer to my heart. That work is about a woman with rage and peace, with ever-flowering thoughts growing her mind and ever-creeping thoughts chocking her neck. This piece showcases the balance of two contrast temperaments of women.

What are you displaying at the By Hand, From The Heart.

My wide range of Wall art, Notebooks, Posters, Tote-bags, Pins and Magnets and am so excited.

Meet the Maker @
By Hand from the Heart: Makers Market – 29th Edit
7 – 8 February 2020, Friday – Saturday | 10 a.m – 9 p.m
Hanu Reddy Residences, No. 41/19, Poes Garden, Chennai 600086, India.

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