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Beauty of the 'woody' beast
Marvels in roots.
YOU CAN look out for craftsmanship in stone as an old song reads `kallilae kalai vannam kandaan'. But is there a possibility of looking out for art in natural wood and root. Know about S. Ramasamy of T. Kallupatti and you would say, there is. He is an artist of a different kind. Not much of an artistic work, he does with his hands. A mild artisan, though. But he gives a great workload to his brain. His mind, round the clock, but for the naptime, thinks about woods and roots. Wherever he goes, he looks at that perspective — '' Does this piece of root or wood look like an animal or bird?'' And he gets it right.
Reward: Ramasamy has a collection of over 600 woody art pieces. Who fed him this idea? He admits: "My son. He once brought a root which looked like a dog. It gave me the inspiration to go great guns with a massive variety of woody animals.''
His artsy-craftsy zoo has a wide range of snakes, alligators, canines, dinosaurs, kangaroos, horses, dolphins, apes, chimpanzees et al. Crows, ducks, herons, sparrows are part of Ramasamy's woodland sanctuary.
Giving a slight touch-up for his findings, the artisan has conducted some 5-6 exhibitions in his hamlet, Kallupatti, and other encircling villages of Ammappatti and Peraiyur. Just with 19 art pieces, he says, he put up the first show at M.S.R. Matriculation School in his village. The receptive students, who were intelligent enough to identify the animals, kindled the interest of the 59-year-old Ramasamy. So he went on with the ticketed display for Kargil and Gujarat Earthquake relief funds.
Is there anything creative about his collection? Quite a lot of imagination is needed. Having a craze, or should we say mania, for this kind of art, even the firewood that comes to his sweet shop or anywhere on the road, cannot escape his eyes. Just fixing the eye for the piece with a bindi or a bit of white punching paper, the wood is converted into an animal or a bird without any cutting, chopping or carving.
Take a deep look at the picture of the person. His white `khadi' shirt carries a natural wood snake. Doesn't that reveal the amount of fascination, he holds for his own exclusive skill?
Ramasamy with his wood art.
To know about the existence or non-existence of the variety of animals, in order to collect them, the not-much educated Ramasamy has to be thorough with the appearances of the beasts. "I watch Discovery, Animal Planet and National Geographic channels during leisure time,'' he says.
Plums, a bird that he saw in the Discovery channel, a week ago, is now in his home in unadorned and plain wood form. Response for his love towards this art form is mixed. Some help to get him the natural wonders while others tease his efforts, calling him nuts.
A `woody' spider he has picked from the root of a neem tree sticks to its web made out of thread. This is just a sample for his perfection. A local photographer, Raja, and Hotel Jayalakshmi at Kallupatti are his patrons. Walking to the hotel, every morn to pick a rare `birdy or beastly' firewood from there, is part of Ramasamy's routine. The photographer clicks a flash free of cost to hold them in his aesthetic album.
An exclamatory wow goes to the unique hobbyist from everyone who sees his artistic discovery. Does he want to hold a Guinness? Does he want to sell his pieces? The only firm answer that comes from him is, "No''.
By AR. Meyyammai
Photos: S. James
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