Animal instincts

Artist Diana Joseph’s exhibition focuses on the character traits of tigers, lions, zebras, stags, deer, wolves and elephants  

By Shevlin Sebastian 

At the David Hall art gallery, artist Diana Joseph shows her hands. It’s small and compact and looks fine. But Diana is suffering from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. That means it is difficult for her to hold a pen or a brush. “It is an irreversible degeneration of the nerves,” she says. “This happens when you use a computer too often. Many in the IT industry suffers from it.” 

As a result, Diana uses her fingers to paint. She mixes colours directly on the painting, or sometimes she uses reverse painting. In this method, to remove bits of the paint, she uses a razor or knife if it is acrylic. When it is oil it is turpentine and cloth. She says she uses three mediums interchangeably in a single canvas -- acrylic, pastel and aqua oil.

The works are large -- 5’ x 4’ or 5’ or 6’. The exhibition, titled, ‘Manimal’ features tigers, lions, zebras, stags, deer, wolves and one elephant. This elephant has two gleaming ivory tusks, flapping ears and a piercing eye. 

Diana has been a fan of elephants since her childhood. She would come from Bangalore, for her summer vacations to her grandparents’ home, beside the Koodalmanikyam Temple, in Chellur, Irinjalakuda. “In May, it would be the pooram season, and the elephants would stay in our courtyard,” says Diana. “I would spend an entire day just watching the movements of the animal. It was fascinating. Maybe, I was meant to love elephants. My name Diana has an ‘ana’ (elephant) in it.” 

In almost all the paintings, the eyes are the most powerful feature. So, a tiger has a luminous green pair of eyes. “In real life, their eyes glow in the dark,” she says. “It takes me a bit of time to fix the eye. It is the most challenging to create. Like in humans, the eyes are like a window to the soul of the painting.”

In a work called ‘Linger’, two lions are cuddling each other. Their eyes are warm. Diana seems to say that even in the toughest of animals, they have tender moments.

In another image, two wolves hold their faces next to each other. Unusually, for the animal world, wolves have a monogamous attitude. And when a wolf loses his partner he will never go in search of another mate. “This is a singular trait in wolves,” she says. “That’s why their numbers have dwindled.” 

Another image is of a gorilla, semi-angry, who has striking red eyes. All animals have coloured sclera (the white outer layer of the eyeball). A crocodile has yellow scleras, a turtle green, while a wolf has blue eyes. Only man has a white sclera. “Because of this white background, one can easily gauge the emotions of a man,” she says. “But you can’t do that with animals. You cannot know what they are thinking because of their coloured scleras.”   

Then there is the image of a stag and doe with their antlers entwined. But in a gap between the two antlers, Diana has drawn a setting sun. “Sunset is a very important moment for animals,” she says. “This is the time when they communicate with each other. Sunset is the time when they realise that the day is coming to an end. It is time to settle down for the night. Actually, we can learn a lot from the animal world.”

Says visitor Shelton Pinheiro, a creative director of an advertising agency, “Diana’s paintings draw us into a dizzying whirlpool of detail. Every hair, highlight and texture stand out in stark relief. Most of the canvases loom large over the viewer.”   

In her daily life, Diana runs the Kochi-based NGO ‘Venda’ (Say No To Drugs). “Every day, there is a crisis,” she says. “So, painting is a refuge for me.” She re-started her hobby two years ago, after a 20-year-hiatus. From childhood, Diana had loved painting. But for various reasons, she was not able to continue. But when she began, Diana made a quick impact. A few collectors in Germany own her works as well as the Bangalore-based Ashok Soota, the founder of MindTree. He has a painting of a lion called ‘Caterwaul’. 

He told Diana, “You work is mesmerising. I had a party recently and the painting stole the show. The immense detailing is unbelievable.” In the ongoing exhibition, a foreign collector has expressed his interest in owning one. “Yes, there are others too who want to acquire my works,” says Diana. “I am lucky.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram)