The Draw of Different

Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is a challenge that often tempts artists. And graphic novelist and artist Sarnath Banerjee is likely to give in soon. “I might draw a lot less in future,” he says,even though he is not sure what his next phase as an artist is going to be. Seated in Project 88 gallery in Mumbai,he toys with several possibilities — written performance or a cinematic project.

Banerjee confesses that he “leans on drawing”. Even though he has famously combined this art with writing for his graphic novels,Corridor and The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Caper,he wants to lose the comfort of it to reach the next stage of his career as an artist. “Writing may become a primary source of my work. But what I would do with my writing is something I am still to decide,” he says. The artist,however,is sure of one thing. “I am not ever going to write a novel,” he adds.

This kind of future plan — risky and hazy — comes across as a fitting climax to his latest series “Barwa Khiladi — a tribute to people hardwired to loose”,on display at Project 88 gallery till November 3. The Gallery of Losers is a collection of a dozen graphic vignettes that were displayed individually on 48 large billboards across the eastern boroughs of London as part of a public art project organised by the Frieze Foundation,London.

Before his career charts a different course,he is expected to pick up the paintbrush for two projects. One of them is about Mumbai and is tentatively titled “The Uncanny History of Mumbai”. The other has an Indian looking at the secret history of Berlin. Before this,another phase of life awaits him — fatherhood.