Interview with Shankar Ramakrishnan
How is deliciousness more than a flavor, but also a sense of sight?
Eyes are the windows to the world, which is why we use the phrase, "what meets the eye." There is always something far deeper than what our eyes perceive, yet our first impressions are often formed based on what we see. This is probably why we tend to give a lot of importance to how a table is arranged or how a dish is presented, why we have preferences of colour and why we are attracted to things that look good. Deliciousness is not just about our faculty of taste, about how flavourful a dish or an item of food is. Deliciousness begins with the eye. How often have we overlooked a really delicious dish only because our eyes did not approve of it! However tasteful a food is, however full of flavours it may be, we tend to hesitate over it if our eyes find something seemingly disagreeable in the food, if it does not look good or is unfavourably presented.
How does art enrich and shape your life?
I enjoy every form of art, be it painting, dance forms, music, architecture, photographs and other visual presentations. I find art in everything around me. So my photography is not limited to only certain subjects. Be it a concert or candid moments at the wedding, sunsets or a brilliant full moon, the people or nature around me, be it the squirrel or even a mosquito, I find everything worthy of being captured through my art. I find art even in stationery, a bag full of wires, day to day things we use…there is art all around us if we care to look for it and relish the deliciousness.
If you could ask an artist to paint you (either present or past), who would it be and why?
I have a great fascination for the artworks of Mr. Keshav Venkataraghavan. Mr. Keshav is popular for his daily series, "Krishna for Today," in which he uses the legends and allusions of the Hindu deity, Krishna, as his theme to present Universal philosophies. Because of this universality of the themes of his paintings, he incorporates art forms of different nations in his depictions. If I had to ask an artist to paint me, it would be Mr. Keshav, because I am curious to know which art form of the world will best suit me.
Eyes are the windows to the world, which is why we use the phrase, "what meets the eye." There is always something far deeper than what our eyes perceive, yet our first impressions are often formed based on what we see. This is probably why we tend to give a lot of importance to how a table is arranged or how a dish is presented, why we have preferences of colour and why we are attracted to things that look good. Deliciousness is not just about our faculty of taste, about how flavourful a dish or an item of food is. Deliciousness begins with the eye. How often have we overlooked a really delicious dish only because our eyes did not approve of it! However tasteful a food is, however full of flavours it may be, we tend to hesitate over it if our eyes find something seemingly disagreeable in the food, if it does not look good or is unfavourably presented.
How does art enrich and shape your life?
I enjoy every form of art, be it painting, dance forms, music, architecture, photographs and other visual presentations. I find art in everything around me. So my photography is not limited to only certain subjects. Be it a concert or candid moments at the wedding, sunsets or a brilliant full moon, the people or nature around me, be it the squirrel or even a mosquito, I find everything worthy of being captured through my art. I find art even in stationery, a bag full of wires, day to day things we use…there is art all around us if we care to look for it and relish the deliciousness.
If you could ask an artist to paint you (either present or past), who would it be and why?
I have a great fascination for the artworks of Mr. Keshav Venkataraghavan. Mr. Keshav is popular for his daily series, "Krishna for Today," in which he uses the legends and allusions of the Hindu deity, Krishna, as his theme to present Universal philosophies. Because of this universality of the themes of his paintings, he incorporates art forms of different nations in his depictions. If I had to ask an artist to paint me, it would be Mr. Keshav, because I am curious to know which art form of the world will best suit me.
Cover Art Preview: "Fruitful Squirreling"
©ShankarRamakrishnan
Shankar Ramakrishnan, popularly known for his tag “Vishnumayam” began his photography journey with a humble second hand point and shoot camera. He went on to create sensation with his 12 mega pixels and later 41 mega pixels mobile phone cameras for several years till he acquired his DSLR. Shankar showcases through his two Facebook pages, “Vishnumayam” and “Out of (my) Focus” which have a post reach of 25 thousand to a lakh. His photographs have found repute with photographers of international repute on Gurushots.com and have been displayed at the 7th annual photo exhibition of the Jaipur Photographer’s Club.