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The Mavyns Bassist Varoon Nair’s Visual Art Up For Display In Mumbai

All kinds of sea creatures make it to Squidworks, the moniker that Nair adopts for his visual art and electronica projects

Oct 11, 2013
The Mavyns' Varoon Nair in 2012. (Photo: Tej Balachander)

The Mavyns’ Varoon Nair in 2012. (Photo: Tej Balachander)

The Mavyns love Goa (who doesn’t?) and have been spending a substantial amount of time turning into beach bums and retooling their sound. But the Mumbai pop rock band’s bassist Varoon Nair tells us that he didn’t have to go as far as the beach paradise to find inspiration for his paintings. This is surprising since sea creatures of all shapes and brilliant colors are the central theme for most of his art works, but Nair convinces us that the internet was inspiration enough. Says Nair, “I’ve always loved the ocean and water bodies more than land. I research stuff [about sea creatures] on the Internet. You can find almost anything about it on there. There are so many species in the ocean and I just find them very interesting.” For over a year, Nair has been creating electronica music and art under the moniker Squidworks, and his art is on display this month at an exhibition/sale at The Bagel Shop in Bandra west in Mumbai.

Nair, who started creating gig flyers as Squidworks a year and a half ago, is exhibiting art he has worked on for the last three or four years. Says Nair, “I’ve been painting for years but I’m still really shy about it.” The canvases featuring sea creatures and Nair’s new series, inspired by mushrooms was picked up by the Bagel Shop, who have been selling and exhibiting art at their restaurant for over three years. Starfish, squid and fish included, the art is all inspired by real creatures. Says Nair, “The anatomy is completely wrong, though. I never use references and they [the creatures] look all warped. That’s a conscious decision, of course.”

While smaller blocks of Nair’s canvas art are going at Rs 4,000, he has sold a few art prints for Rs 300. Nair adds it was a “sick feeling” to mark up prices of his paintings, especially since he had never exhibited art previously. “But I spoke to people [from the art community] and they asked me to raise my prices, because it does affect the rest of the community. When I had the idea [of displaying art], every painting was priced at Rs 8,000. Now one of them is priced at Rs 18,000.” The bassist, however, admits that he doesn’t see his art hitting galleries and other exhibitions just yet.

 Now that the art side of Squidworks has been exhibited, Nair is also working on videos and his debut full-length electronica album, Bloop, due in January next year. Much like the art, Squidworks music also draws from sea creatures, including samples from sounds of the ocean and whales. Says Nair about how he’s been turning whale calls and other sounds into electronica, “I just send it [samples] through Logic and it freaks me out.” His first single, “Bubble Sink,” released earlier this month, features Mumbai future garage artist Sandunes.

Squidworks art is on display and sale at The Bagel Shop, Pali Mala Road, Bandra (west) in Mumbai throughout October.

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Listen to “Bubble Sink” feat Sandunes below

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