Gifted Artist Anirban Mishra’s colourful world of Pens and Ink
“A pen is the tongue of the mind”
Creation of pens has essentially facilitated the basis of our civilization. It is through pens that we could write and communicate information for generations to come. The greatest works of art from authors like Shakespeare or the greatest discoveries in science by Galileo, Newton, or Da Vinci would not be common knowledge, if not for the pen.
Clicked by Anirban Mishra
Anirban Mishra, a gifted artist from Tamluk in East Midnapore district is doing just that. After obtaining his BFA degree in painting from Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Kolkata in 2017, he relocated to Hyderabad Central University, Telengana for his M.F.A degree in Painting. Presently working as a teacher, Mishra’s versatility is evident in his multifarious creative pursuits. Only a couple of months ago, he was awarded by the ‘India Book of Records’ for creating a six-millimetre model of a vehicle. Mishra is a prolific painter but at the same time, he dabbles in photography, makes exotic craft items including unique pens which have a very good commercial demand in the market. His paintings and photographs are exhibited at different galleries both within the country and abroad as well and they are highly praised by art connoisseurs. Mishra is happy and amused to discover that his hand-made pens have attracted the attention of the masses that are keen to buy them. Mishra initially made different types of pens for doing his paintings but when friends, acquaintances and even viewers in galleries showed keen interest to buy them, he decided to include the item in his merchandise.
Artist at work
The knowledge of inks, their recipes and the techniques for their production have been discovered through archaeological analysis or from written texts itself. The earliest inks from all civilizations are believed to have been made with lampblack, a kind of soot, as this would have been easily collected as a by-product of fire. Later, ink was made by grinding a mixture of hide glue, carbon black, lampblack, and bone black pigment with a pestle and mortar, then pouring it into a ceramic dish to dry.
Although at first sight the battle between keyboards and pens might seem to be no more than the latest twist in a very long story, yet another new tool that we will end up getting used to but Mishra does not agree. Pens and keyboards bring into play very different cognitive processes. “Handwriting is a complex task which requires various skills – feeling the pen and paper, moving the writing implement, and directing movement by thought,” he insists. “Handwriting is a neurosensory exercise, so it’s important to choose the pen types that fit your writing style and needs. Stylizing your handwritten notes gives you a chance to further analyze and organize thoughts and ideas to make note taking more efficient and personalized,” sums up Mishra, who is now engaged in experimenting with unconventional materials and turning them into exotic pens.
Mishra's photography
Author Nikhil Sarkar aka Sripantha once wrote an article titled, Kali Kalam (Ink and Pen) about how the pen and ink are losing significance in the fast-paced world. He recapitulated about his childhood fondly and wrote how he and his schoolmates would devise pens from quills or wood. But in this fast-paced era of information technology, emailing and texting have replaced snail mail and most people do not put pen to paper at all. Amid such scenario, it does seem odd when someone reverts to antiquity and enjoys reviving the art of making traditional pens with quills, reed, ink brush, dip pen and fountain pen etc and loves working with them as well.
