Joseph M. Varghese has managed to merge two ghosts in one sculpture – both Ottamulachi and Ethirpok sculpted in stone.Kozhikode: Is there a ghost on the beach? If you put this question to Joseph M. Varghese, he will tell you there is not one but two - both made by him.
Those visiting the beach sometimes touch and feel the sculptures without knowing that they are spirits.
Joseph has managed to merge two ghosts in one sculpture – both Ottamulachi and Ethirpok sculpted in stone.
'Ottamulachi', the spirit with a single breast, was one of the scariest memories of his childhood but it had also generated curiosity so much so that he wanted to actually see one, says Joseph. 'Ethirpok' moves around at night and leaves a destructive trail, which is visible the next morning in the form of ashes and other leftovers of fires.
'Ethirpok' is the 'rebel', which goes against everybody and everything and hence the name, which literally means against the norms.
The 'Ethirpok' is in male form that is shown piercing the earth. For those who want to provide the natural look to it, Joseph has left a cavity on the sculpture that can hold a burning torch.
'Ottamulachi' gets the look of an enchanting woman.
Joseph had participated in a two-week-long camp organized by Kerala Lalithakala Akademi where he had made this sculpture, his first. Another sculpture made out of stone at Lions Park near the beach will be unveiled later.
As a Class 10 student at JDT School, Joseph was asked to write an essay on a novel he liked the most. He wrote about O.V. Vijayan's Khasakkinte Ithihasam. It was pure coincidence that Joseph was part of the team of artists who gave life to the characters of the novel in granite at Vijayan's Thasarak village in Palakkad.
Joseph's contribution included Kuttadan Poosari and Kunjamina. Kunjamina, in the sculpture, is seen lost in the music of leaves fluttering in the wind.
Joseph had learnt sculpting at the Artist's Village at Cholamandal. He has won the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi award thrice and oscillates between paintings and sculptures.
Interestingly, one of Joseph's exhibitions was named 'Drinking a peg of crocodile tears'. Ask him why he chose such a title, and he will tell you that when people feel helpless in today’s world self-criticism is the only way out.
Most paintings at the exhibition reflected a self-critical view of the hollowness seen in today's world, be it love, pain and happiness or protests. So, see the works, have a peg of crocodile tears, he chuckles.
In the heritage museum at one of the oldest buildings in Kerala, the Bastion Bungalow in Kochi, there is a sculpture made by Joseph titled 'Aa Zham' (depth) of a woman going down in the water.
Joseph's creativity literally runs hither and thither -- from collages, about 30 paintings on slate, and experiments on paper plates. "An artist is an explorer. An explorer can't restrict himself to just one path," he explains. From the softness of water to the rigidity of stone, everything is malleable for Joseph.
Well, for somebody who has retired as a superintendent at the irrigation department, there is not much dissimilarity between water and stone.
