A painter and his mission

I was at Tenth Planet Technologies, to attend the first Failcamp Chennai. TPT is an open source based IT services firm and they’d offered their office space to be used as a venue for Failcamp. What caught our attention at the office was beautiful art work done on pillars and certain walls. Their conference room had huge painting of Dashavatharam (no-not the movie), all pillars were painted with images of god and goddesses. As we carried on with failcamp, later in the day, Kumaran Mani, CEO of Tenth Planet Technologies threw more light on these paintings. He said his idea was to have a palace kind of theme for the entire interior of his office, but the price being expensive, he is going slow. Kumaran told us that these beautiful paintings were done by Mr. P A Anandakumar, who holds a world record in drawing (16 hours non-stop drawing, without lifting his hand, as I later found out from the painter himself). This painter is working with a unique goal- to build a cancer hospital. Most of his earnings are diverted towards this ambition and he is reportedly half way through his ambition.

He made this wonderful painting for former president Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam using ball point pens. The image is formed by writing Abdul Kalam’s name all over (in various colours and shapes). They reportedly presented this painting to Mr former president himself, with a request for some funds for the cancer hospital. His highness returned the image to them, stating that he will collect the artwork back on the day he makes donation to the cancer hospital (WEST-Worldwide Education and Social Welfare Trust) is the name of the trust Anandkumar is running. They do not seem to have a website/blog, hence no links.

I spoke with Anand to find some more details on his initiatives-he said he charges anywhere between Rs 200 to Rs 300 per square feet for his painting- price depends on quality of materials used. (the designer wheel you see is probably 8 ft x 12 ft , costing around 25-30k - notice the 3D effect in the painting) He also said his cancer hospital mission is taking shape well.

My concern was, what if the Tenth Planet had to shift its office building? The paintings done on the wall and pillar can’t be taken along to next office and the huge investment will go waste. If the subsequent occupant of the building does not like the paintings, he may just white wash all these things in one stroke. So I checked with Anand if he can provide paintings such that it can be detached and re-positioned. (something like on a canvass or so, which can be detached). He replied in affirmative, and that was a good thing. I liked his paintings and his mission, so thought of giving it a mention. Anandakumar can be reached at worldwide.trust at gmail.com More about failcamp in a different post.