Some artworks make you ponder about their depths — hidden meanings and undertones. They make you question the world as you know it. Some of them help you transcend many dimensions, making you experience many worlds. Anjana Lohithakshan’s work falls in the second category. They make you want to return for more.
To any first-time viewer, Anjana’s landscapes are utopian. A world far away, with no sorrow, no complaints, always tranquil. “I never thought anyone would associate calmness with my work. But when I revisit them I understand how something so unattainable to me is evident in my works,” says Anjana. For her, painting is an escape from the harsh realities of the world, a refuge that helped her escape the pandemic anxiety and claustrophobic lockdowns.
Most of her watercolour paintings, with their brilliant hues, pink twilights, blue skies and serene waters help us appreciate the world around us better. For Anjana, her art is an escape from the bad bits of the same reality that makes her anxious.
Anjana always spent her life close to nature. “My home when I was a child was close to the wild. Nature and its untamed beauty found a place in my heart back then. Even now, it is something I always try to find during my travels and in my dreams.
Beginning and the break
Anjana’s mother was an artist, and she grew up watching her mom paint. “She never compelled me to learn. But the colours and brushes always attracted me,” says Anjana. She doesn’t remember a day in her childhood that didn’t involve a pencil or paper. She drew through school. She chose to study architecture in college.
“My favourite medium is wet on wet watercolour paintings, where you apply wet colours onto wet paper. It’s a more difficult and unpredictable method but once I started it, I realised it was better than anything else I have tried,” says the young artist who is also proficient in oil and acrylic works.
“I never wanted my work to be based on my moods when I am sad or anxious. When I realised I was painting when I felt like I needed to escape, I stopped doing so. This was during the time I was doing B.Arch in Thrissur,” says Anjana. The break she took back then helped her journey as an artist. Anjana is now studying photography design at the National Institute of Design in Gandhinagar.
Anjana started painting again in 2018. And by 2020, it became as necessary as breathing. “During the pandemic, I felt stuck. I couldn’t even pick up my camera then. I spent all my time painting. I visited places through my art,” says the artist.
Real to abstract
Anjana is happy that her art helps people watch azure skies and roaring winds. “I am glad that I could produce something that gives solace to many. When I was painting those, I didn’t have any control over the output. But now, I am on top of everything I create Now, sometimes I paint dystopian landscapes that match my mood to counteract all the calm,” she quips.
Anjana started with realistic paintings on the places she visited, the architecture she loved. Now, she makes largely surreal artworks. She is now busy trying to incorporate watercolour paintings into her photography project. “For now, that is the plan. I am closest to watercolours at the moment,” she says. “I once had a very vivid dream. The colours, the aesthetics and the scenery of that dream inspired me. I try to achieve that scene, that euphoric feeling of finding a unique place through my works,” says Anjana.