An artist from Kerala with excellent achievements in both painting and cartooning at the international level – CB, a native of Vypin Cherai. Shibu. In 2007, Shibu marked his name internationally by winning the award, which is described as the Oscar in cinema. In painting, he shared the second place with the famous Italian painter Sergio Tessarolo at the 32nd International Urosmo Nell Art Biennale held in Italy last December. A dreamlike achievement is the painting titled ‘Swapnam’. The fact that 2400 artistes participated in that competition adds to the talent in Shibu.
This painter has attracted attention in many exhibitions and competitions held at the international level. Shibu’s victories were beating foreign artists who excelled in competitions held in China, South Korea, Belgium, Turkey, Greece and Italy.
The world’s attention fell on this artist when Turkey’s Aydin Doğan won the international award, the Oscar of cartoons. The cartoon was called ‘The Desert’. When he arrived in Turkey to receive the award, there was no mandatory coat and suit. He received the award wearing the clothes given by the organizers. When Shibu’s speech in Malayalam was translated into English, there was applause in the audience. Shibu was perhaps more admired than anyone else at the time. After deducting tax, he came home with one and a half lakh rupees and paid off his bank debt. So the bed was not taken to the bank. Shibu will be the first Indian to win an Oscar for cartoons and the first to pay his debt. Cartoonist Yesudasan once said… ‘This is a miracle. No one here has received such a big award. The media and academia have not understood Shibu.’
Yesudasa was right. No one respected Shibu in the country. Lalitha Kala Academy did not even give a chance to hold a film exhibition. Channels did not look back because they did not get ratings. In the newspapers, the news about Shibu was confined to the local pages.
Shibu has also received many other honors. Shibu has received national recognition from Hindustan Times twice, special award from China and honorable award four times from South Korea. Got an opportunity to represent India at the Knock Fist Cartoon Fair held in Belgium. 2nd Our Heritage Jerusalem International Cartoon Competition held in 2018 from Turkey and won third place.
In 2022, The Tree won the Silver Prize at the International Cartoon and Illustration Exhibition for Humanity organized by China Daily Newspaper and Wuxi Municipal People’s Government. The prize was 20000 Chinese Yuan (more than two lakh rupees).
In 2019, he won third place in the international cartoon competition No Time for Liver organized by Delhi Institute of Liver and Biliary Science.
Received Merit Award at International Cartoon Exhibition 2022 in Athens. Shibu says that being selected for international competitions is a great luck. Shibu’s style is a combination of fine drawing and cartooning. Shibu’s cartoons are mostly paintings. Abroad, cartoons are similar to paintings. We have a habit of drawing with black ink on white paper. The World Cartoon Competition has sketches, paintings and sculptures. Shibu also says that Malayali’s perception of cartoons should change.
The surrealistic paintings of the world-famous Spanish painter Salvador Dali have always inspired the Shibu artist.
Born in Vypin Cherai to Cheripadath Balan and Shantamani. He was a financially backward family. Learned painting in the midst of limitations. Diploma in drawing and painting was the only asset. The first guru was Jyeshthan Narayanankutty, a painter. The older brother passed away prematurely. After the 10th class, cartoonist M.K. Studied painting under the tutelage of Siri. With the departure of his father, the responsibility of the family fell on his shoulders. No other reason was required to stop further studies. Now earns a living as a studio photographer, painting and teaching art to children.
The artist regretfully says that despite being in the world of films and cartoons for two decades, Kerala has not given him the recognition he deserves. This artist hopes to get a place in the Kochi Biennale, which is the dream of painters and painters. Along with that, his own country will one day hold the artist in him.
Baiju Bhasi
