They came, they sprayed, and they concurred

Trance music, people sipping beer — it’s just another night in one of Mumbai’s many lounge bars. Right? Well, not at the Bombay 72° East lounge bar in Juhu.

On May 24, three young artists were given a canvas and asked to let themselves go with spray paint. It was ‘Tiger Translate — Graffiti Night’, an initiative by a beer brand to help upcoming Asian artists showcase their talent in different fields of art, design, photography, and music.

The atmosphere was relaxed, and curious onlookers couldn’t help but wonder what the final work of art would look like. Shaleen, one of the graffiti artists, played to the eager audience, often taking a break from the canvas to perform a dance or two. In his NY cap, and Hip Hop get-up, he looked more like rap star than an artist.

“I think creating something with spray paint is so much better than normal paint,” said Shaleen, who works for a shipping company and moonlights as a deejay.

The Tiger Translate competition will go on for two months, with four different events in the offing. Finalists will be judged by Brinda Miller, Pravina Mecklai, Muneer Kabani, and Tino Francorsi. Similar events have been held in cities like Berlin, New York, Shanghai and Beijing. From India, two winners will be flown to London for the world event, where they will display their art.

But Shaleen did not seem to be too interested in the nitty-gritty of the event. His passion is graffiti, something he wants to encourage among the city’s youth. His graffiti was that of a tiger with a blue outline, and yellow sprayed inside. “I think graffiti is a great way to express yourself, and an important form of art,” said an onlooker, Shoa Hussain.
Vishal, a fine arts student from the JJ School of Arts, seemed to be oblivious to the cheers from the audience. He was immersed in his art — a mutant that had a robotic body with human emotions. “I draw anything that comes to my mind and I like the human figure,” he said.

The audience was hooked from the word go. “I didn’t know there was so much talent among people in this particular form of art,” said another onlooker, Divya Mishra. “We don’t often get to see a graffiti exhibition or a competition like this regularly.”

While graffiti has yet to take off in the city, the revolution has slowly begun, and an increasing number of people are seeing it as a form of art instead of vandalism. For this, artists like Vishal and Shaleen are happy.