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A journey from Pops to iPops

A series of paintings done by Pops on his iPad are up for display at the Scarecrow gallery in Mumbai, whose proceeds are subjected for charity...

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A journey from Pops to iPops

A journey from Pops to iPops

A series of paintings done by Pops on his iPad are up for display at the Scarecrow gallery in Mumbai, whose proceeds are subjected for charity...

Neha Saraiya | Delhi | June 13, 2011

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Had it not been a compelling urge to snap an ipad by Pop's son, during a three week short stint in US, (in last November) the who's who of the ad-frat would not have been able to witness the perfect night of amalgamation of art and science on Saturday in Mumbai, exactly seven months later. A trained painter by nature, K V Sridhar aka Pops, National creative director, Leo Burnett India had waved good-bye to his first love (art!) long time back, when advertising happened to him. But little did he know that what he had left with brush, canvas and paints in his hands would return back to him, 32 years after but on a 9.50 inch screen along with a stylus.

“I used to do paintings till 1980s. But then I joined advertising and had to quit art as it was very difficult to juggle both the things at the same time. But during my course of advertising I never subscribed digital painting as it never had the same gratification. But with tablet you can paint with a brush in your hand, can smudge the lines and hence you get the same gratification,” says Pops.

After his purchase the first few months went in experimentation, until March that proved out to be quite productive as it was during this time that Pops almost painted 70 canvasses in 40 odd days. But the idea of ipops creeped in April, at Goa fest 2011, when while judging the creative Abby's Pop's displayed his paintings to his close friends, Sanjay Khare and Manish Bhat. “It was during the first round of the judging process of the creative Abby's when Pops was running through his work on his ipad with Sanjay Khare. Due to time constraint I missed at that time, thus during the second round I went up to him and asked him to show his paintings again. Then after once we were back, I saw the entire canvas printed and was amazed by the fact that only if you don't touch or smell it, the painting was as good as a real painting done on a canvass with colours and brushes. Then I introduced Niyati Shinde to this idea, as she was already working with us as a curator,” avers Manish Bhatt, founder director, Scarecrow Communications.

Thus the concept behind ipops came into existence. Besides Pops flawless art strokes, the reason for Scarecrow to put up an exhibition of his collectibles was because this was supposed to be the second exhibition put up by the agency after its first show at its first inception anniversary. And what better way to host a second display that not only goes as a charity (through its sale proceeds!) but also gives a newer platform to the unsung talent through a new technology.

The making of iPops:

Radio ad:

The display of Pops paintings unveiled during the weekend shall be followed by an art workshop on 29-30th of this month for budding artists and creative people.  As of now, 30 paintings have been out on the display with an Indian rural female as the muse of his paintings. “I am the ambassador of women child among the advertising and media industry in the country and there's no way I would not have painted them.” His favourite of the lot remains the 'Oily Hair woman' painting that walks down the memory lane of Pops childhood, when he used to see his mother oiling his sisters and forming plats.

“I want to do a limited edition of my paintings and atleast collect a sum of 25-30 lakhs for charity. I have also shortlisted two NGO's for the donation of sale proceeds- one is the UN Aided one and the other is relatively a smaller organisation. I have been associated with UN Aided one for long, but it's the other one that my heart aches for this time,” exclaims Pops.

The event and his paintings have already created a buzz for its novelty and the way it has been promoted. A large use of radio and digital has been referred for spreading the word. As Manish reveals further as he says, “We are experimenting audio viral rather than youtube viral. We have also put a live streaming of the entire two days of exhibition onipops.in, so that there is a larger awareness among people.”

The live streaming of the entire event came as a surprise for the man himself during the exhibition. “My parents had come from Hyderabad especially but I was sad because my kids were in US and could not be physically present for the event. But when I got to know that it shall be put live online, I immediately informed my son about it,” added Pops.

This show is a sneak preview of iPops as a property that Manish and Pops are planning to escalate further to newer cities in coming times and Delhi seems to be their next destination.

Neha@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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