A ROOM WITH A POINT OF VIEW
THE IMAGINARIUM OF ARVIND NARALE
Artist and architect Arvind Narale. Desi News file photo.
Toronto-based artist and architect Arvind Narale describes his latest book, The Lion and his Royal Court, as something that is designed to fire children’s imagination.
This 48-page full-colour, hard bound book features art by Arvind Narale accompanied by a story by Dr. Vidyullekha Aklujkar.
Just as a travelling theatre company has more to it than meets the eye in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, this book is full of secrets that are revealed when the book is turned upside down.
The fun begins when they read the story and spot some upside down text on the bottom of the page. They turn the page and the picture of a new animal emerges, like magic!
Cue surprise and laughter.
A novel concept that guarantees giggles, the book is a great Diwali gift idea for children 8 to 12, and is sure to delight parents, too.
Narale is a well-known exponent of this rare art form. His book Dwaichitrya featured reversible images tagged with a reversible poem in Marathi. He followed this up with Chitra-Vaichitrya, Upside Downside Up and Double Delight.
Passionate about this form of art, he created a 60-minute feature film, Viloma, on the subject in 2015. The film expresses in pictorial form the Indian philosophy of transmigration of the soul.
It’s a man!
It’s a lion!
“Upside Down is an art-form not currently taught in any school in the world, though it has tremendous possibilities of application in the practical world,” says Narale. “Kids learning this new art form expand their visualizing faculties. Commercial uses include rotating ads, rotating art in executive boardrooms, lobbies and libraries, and so on. It introduces fun and a sense of magic in the viewing of art, stimulating the viewers’ senses in a way not previously possible, teasing the audience into a challenge of guessing each ‘new’ image that will emerge. This art-form helps us look for and discover what is not obvious at first sight, and open up the mind to a new world of possibilities.”
• To obtain your copy of The Lion and his Royal Court ($22.50 plus postage), contact Arvind Narale at arvind.narale@sympatico.ca.
• Or contact dattsonspublishers@gmail.com ( INR 999).
• Or visit www.amazon.in/dp/8171922074.
Copies of Upside Downside Up and Double Delight are also available with Arvind Narale.
More info on Arvind Narale’s art at www.upsidedownsideup.com.
The Lion and His Royal Court, art by Arvind Narale, story by Dr. Vidyullekha Aklujkar. Published by Dattsons Publishers, Nagpur, India.