In the last 8 years, Kanak Nanda has painted more than 90 walls including Varun Dhawan's personal gym. She has even designed for the FilmFare awards, Milan Fashion week, and is the embassador for an Italian paint company.
Kanak Nanda is a wall artist, a graphic designer, a psychologist, and she has been doing all 3 for the past 8 years. Though as an artist, her work ranges from floor to ceilings to fabrics to more, her specialty is the wall! Be it the wall painting or wall texturing, all of her murals are remarkable. She has painted for celebrities like Varun Dhawan and is a Texture Consultant at Asian Paints. She has even designed for Filmfare and the Milan fashion week.
"Street art all over the world always intrigued me. The only way to make it accessible was to do walls. I hate going to museums, and very few people are actually into it. So, I wanted to make these artworks affordable and accessible to everybody.", says Kanak Nanda.
In the beginning, Kanak only worked designing cafes, and restaurants but now she is exploring more options, including residences and objects. "I feel that the people recognize an artist's work after they die. So the whole point of doing it is so that people can call me for the work because I won't be able to paint your walls after I die.", she laughs.
For Kanak Nanda, art is something that is beautiful and moves you in some way. She was teaching in a fashion school 8 years ago. But then, during an event, her life changed completely, and she was exposed to her passion. This artistic gem was discovered by a set designer Vinod Kurji who was there at the said event where Kanak's painting caught his eye.
"So, I had painted a wall and he asked me about it. When I told him it was me who had made it, he invited me to paint a wall for his restaurant.", she says. It was Kanak's first professional project for a cafe named Haq Se in Lower Parel, where she painted a wall of 55 ft. by 9 ft. "It took me months to complete it, but it was amazing. After this, the work just kept coming.", she adds.
Kanak is a color influencer for many Indian paint brands including Asian Paints and an Italian company Novacolor. She creates textures and color combinations for these brands every year depending on the colors. "My job is to forecast the colours which will be trending. I create designs and patterns that will be released every year. There's a lot of research work that goes behind the selection process as I have to figure out what fits in the Indian market.", she says.
It takes more than 4,5 months for Kanak to decide on palettes. During the pandemic when everything was gloomy and chaotic she took the help of bright colors to make things feel better. "The only thing that could bring happiness was colours, so I used a lot of them depending on moods.", she adds.
With over 90 murals and many other artistic projects, Kanak Nanda has come a long way. She likes to work on things where she has complete freedom. Her first project was black and white, but then colors came into her life. She would create a lot of colorful backgrounds and then do the black and white illustrations on them. Her signature style looks a lot like Mehendi and has intricate details. This detailing and creativity was the reason why she was able to work for Filmfare and Varun Dhawan.
"I am a huge Varun fan. It was one of my dream projects to do. He just came and said it will be my home gym and I want something which I can look at every day and not get bored with it. He gave me the quote and then asked me to go ahead. So a lot of freedom was given to do what I wanted, and he was very happy with it.", it took her 3 days to work on it, and the outcome is indeed very interesting.
Talking about her work for the Filmfare, she says, "I was contacted by the Shamak Dawar team, and made flowers for them. I did not even know that it was going to be there in SRKs performance. When I saw the paper the next morning I was so happy. It took me a week to do it as there were 200 flowers.", she says.
After working on many different mediums, Kanak Nanda can now complete a project in just 4 days. She loves experimenting, and that's why when she got a chance to paint a ceiling, she did not say no. Kanak has a height phobia, and so working on this project was the most difficult thing. "It was a challenge from every aspect. I sat down on a chajja instead of a ladder. But, the moment I would look down, I would feel that I was going to die. So, I kept looking up and continued painting.", she laughs.
One thing which really inspired us was seeing the variety of work Kanak has done in these last 8 years. You will not see the same concept repeated in any other project that she has done. " I do not copy the same thing and that is why my work never gets dull. There's a different story with different clients.", she says.
Coming up with unique ideas isn't easy, and so when Kanak runs out of them, she picks up travelling. "I work with different mediums, I do furniture, I do fabric, I do everything that I want to try, so it doesn't allow me to have that block. But yes, initially when I would have one, travelling to places would be my go-to solution, travel is a very special part of my creativity.", she says.
Like her paintings, Kanak's personality is full of colors too. She is bubbly, she is passionate, and is always up for experimenting. Talking about one such project, where even after trying multiple times, she had to give up. "I was trying to do Resin art on a vertical surface which is usually done on a floor or a horizontal surface. But even after a couple of trials, it did not work vertically. I ended up painting it horizontally. So, that is one thing I still want to try", says Kanak Nanda.
From painting for celebrities to making art for the Milan fashion week, Kanak is definitely a role model for many art enthusiasts. Talking about a fun and memorable incident she says, "I got a call from a guy on Instagram, and he told me that his fiance is my very big fan . He kept insisting for weeks, and so I invited her to my place. She came and I felt like a celebrity that day. She even touched me to check if I was real. I even taught her how to paint, and that really made my day."
Before ending this cheerful conversation, Kanak Nanda pressed on an important issue. "We are all artist and we are doing a handpainted job so there are a lot of chances of errors. Some clients really want to go according to the checklist that they have made, but that hampers our creativity. Because an artist likes to do things in their way. Even though it's a commissioned art, I would like to experiment with it. So, sometimes such projects lose their charm", she says.
Quick 4
1. One thing about Nashik you adore the most: The weather!
2. If you have to make an illustration of a local place, a spot in a city, or favourite eatery, which place would that be: Any waterfall!
3. You are a foodie, favourite local food spot in Nashik: Missal Pav Shyam sunder. They have the best missal pav.
4. Skills every wall muralist should have Patience! When you are a commissioned artist, you should know how to handle people. Also, hard work would be the second one.
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