Slipping and falling

I like to make emotional art, says surreal illustration artist Pooja Sreenivasan.

Rachana Ramesh

Pooja is a surreal artist and illustrator based out of Bengaluru, and works independently creating album art, book covers and editorial illustrations. You can take a look at her art on her Instagram handle: slippingandfalling.

How did your art journey start and how has it evolved to become what it is now?

Growing up, I never thought I would work professionally as an artist. I was brought up in a family full of engineers and chartered accountants and no one was ever exposed to the idea of a career in the creative industry. I enjoyed drawing and therefore decided to pursue architecture, but after a year and a half in college I was definite that this wasn’t my cup of tea. I dropped out mid-year and moved back home. During this time, I started an Instagram page called “Poojadoodles” to post some mandalas and zentangling that I used to do to calm myself down when I would get anxious about my future.

Eventually, my mental health got really bad during this gap year, especially since I was full of uncertainty about my future and everyday would pass by with me watching my friends’ Instagram stories off in college and chasing their dreams. I decided to use this time to learn something. I began experimenting with photomanipulated edits and posted them on my Instagram page, which by now was called slippin- gandfalling. I started diversifying my portfolio and clientele in the graphic design industry and finally decided to join a course in Visual Communication that year. Through the end of my first year, I started experimenting with illustrating on photoshop. I started posting these and people loved them. This motivated me to be more consistent and to put more effort into polishing and honing this skill. To my surprise, I began receiving a few commissions, which is what finally sparked the idea in me that I could possibly be a full-time illustrator someday.

Fast forward to now, three years later, and I work independently creating album art, book covers and editorial illustrations. People recognise my work now, they send me stuff they see elsewhere and ask if I made it, and I did. It is an overwhelmingly gratifying feeling.

What does your work aim to convey? Is there a consistent theme that you follow and hope for it to provoke a feeling among your audience?

I would like to believe my art is a reflection of my mental state at that given moment. When I sit down to draw, I want to make sure that I am pouring my emotions out genuinely. I do not like some of my works that I make on a whim, or because it relates to something that is trending. I like to make emotional art, I don’t mind if my work makes people uncomfortable, I think that means there are some aspects of their own emotion that they’re not addressing or refusing to. I would like for my art to help people confront or console these feelings they’re choosing not to accept.

In terms of themes, I would say my art revolves around a lot of introspection and self reflection. I also don’t like to explain my artworks too much, because I use a lot of metaphorical imagery, I like to leave it to the viewer to perceive it based on their own subjectivity. It makes me feel like each artwork lives as many lives as the number of people who view it.

I’ve also had a lot of people say I make “negative” art and that I should make something happier, given that I am a fun and bubbly person in general. Infact, a lot of people find it hard to believe that someone like me is capable of making such dark and haunting pieces. To these people I like to pose the question as to why they think any emotion other than happiness is “negative”. I think we as a society need to unlearn this idea that happiness is the ultimate goal, and that sadness and anger are the enemy. I think all emotions are necessary and exist at all given times. I believe all emotions deserve a chance at being expressed, and that’s how we can clear the path and make room for more things to feel.

Who have been your biggest influences? Whose technique do you study or admire? Why are you infl uenced by these artists or movements?

My biggest inspiration would be Victo Ngai, an American illustrator raised in Hongkong. I love her work because of the level of intricacy and how well she tells a story through just one visual. Her work was very essential in helping me find my own personal art style and define a genre and theme that I was going to associate my art with. In addition, I was always fascinated by the surrealism movement in art history. I loved the idea of distorting, exaggerating and over amplifying things to get the idea across. I’m not quite a fan of realism, I l