City artist decides to go incognito to promote art

While travelling across the city, you would have spotted an artist painting walls wearing a mask. This artist, who goes with the moniker Lotuzhead, has been painting on walls since 2015. He shares with us the reason to remain incognito. “I am not generalising, but many artists love to show off and once he/she gains attention, they tend to shift away from the purpose of their work. Previously, an artist used to devote time with his/her artworks. But now art is commercialised and people tend to give more importance to the artist than the work. That’s really a sad state. I wanted to bring in a fresh perspective to art and decided to go behind a mask,” he says.

Lotuzhead doesn’t want people to explore him or his character but wants them to concentrate on his work. “Initially, the response from the public wasn’t really positive, but soon they realised that I am not here for fame, but to promote genuine art. That said, there were many instances where people approached me asking to reveal my identity. It is sometimes tough to make them understand my vision,” he adds.

He continues, “My first big event was the Sunburn Festival in Goa in 2015. Later, I started painting on walls — the kind of art I do is called figurative abstraction. It’s surreal art. Whenever I decide to paint a wall, I get prior permission from the concerned authorities to avoid issues.”

He started covering his face only from mid-2016. “While painting, some people approach me and say that they would understand my artwork a lot better if they knew me. My art should do the talking, not me. They try best ways to convince me to show off my face. They are also curious to know about my whereabouts. Here, I am trying to bring out the concept of giving importance to art and for some reason, people are more interested in decoding my name and identifying my face. Though Chennaiites are new to the concept of vigilante artist, I am sure they will soon understand my vision,” he says.

His work often includes the symbol of a lotus as the main motif. “The theme I generally follow is called hypnogogic. It is like you are in a dream, but actually you are in reality.”

He recently participated in the One People Festival in Mahabalipuram as art director for the event. The artist paints at live gigs, which combine music with live painting. “I love to do live painting — most of the time I don’t plan on what I will be painting. It depends on the whole vibe — the music and the crowd,” he remarks.