Anonymously Yours: Artists tell After Hrs why they choose to stay unidentified and how they do it

What Marshmello, Deadmau5 and Daft Punk are to the west, Babloo Babylon is to India. What Banksy is offshore, Tyler, Guesswho, and Daku are closer home. Chennai-based fine artist, who goes by the pseudonym LotuzHead, paints alongside live musical performances. These artists have one thing in common. They are anonymous — not the nameless underdogs who impress and are pursued by celebrities but by choice. Like Marshmello (Christopher Comstock), Daft Punk and Deadmau5 (Joel Thomas Zimmerman), Babloo prefers being a mysterious producer. These international artistes’ faces and real names are known but when it comes to desi creators, they are absolutely incognito. Graffiti and street art creators such as Tyler stay in the shadows whereas live painter LotuzHead covers his face with a scarf when he’s at work.

WHY STAY ANON

For LotuzHead and Guesswho, it’s ‘art over artist’. “The very idea of being anonymous was to take the focus away from the artist,” says the latter. LotuzHead corroborates, “Artists tend to think that they are the reason why art is appreciated, which is egoistic and narcissistic. I want people to respect the creator but appreciate the creation.” He adds that eventually the artists become the product and deviate from the real work. “I wanted to avoid that. I want my art to be spoken about because, through it, I give a message. Art does not survive because of the artist. In fact, it’s the other way round,” he states.

For Babloo, who recently took the Jameson Underground stage at Magnetic Fields in Alsisar, Rajasthan, his family’s disapproval of his career is the reason. “I do a regular 9-to-5 job and make music in my downtime,” he tells us. For someone like Tyler, “Graffiti or street art is considered vandalism if done without permission. Anonymity is the best solution.”

Tyler

STAYING HIDDEN IS A TASK

So, have these artists had to swear or scare acquaintances into secrecy? LotuzHead admits that he had to take care of his social life and social media before going anonymous. People often get offended when he turns down their requests for pictures. “I’ve had to sacrifice hanging out with people who didn’t understand my vibe,” he states. “But most of them have been trustworthy and supportive. If someone takes my photos, they request the person to not reveal my identity,” he avers. It took him almost a year to wipe out his identity from the internet completely. For Babloo, “There is a blood-pact kinda thing with people who know,” he says. Initially, Tyler’s friends thought of his anonymity as a joke. But since his art is caustic (‘You know the world is going crazy when Justin Bieber has more fans than Gandhi’), anti-establishment (‘Anti-Everything’) and often outrageous (‘Remember kids, it’s never wrong to kill the right people’), he is aware of the perils of being revealed. “I explained to my friends the danger behind it. I’m sure they are going to keep it tight,” says he.

GETTING ATTENTION

The irony is trying to remain undercover gets them more attention. LotuzHead says bemusedly, “I’m usually the only masked person at an event, so all eyes are on me. But when I become the focus, I only talk about my art and not myself.” Even the articles in the press only promote his work. Babloo does not frequent social hotspots. Even when he does, he prefers not to talk about himself but discusses his job and other stuff. “I’m really happy that people know Babloo. This is all I want,” he says. Guesswho is staunch and refuses to answer anything that puts the focus on the artiste. Babloo is so steadfast about incognito that if his identity is revealed in the public domain like Marshmello or Deadmau5, “I would probably quit.”