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Guess who? The Indian banksy has arrived (32 pics)

Posted: 02 Jan 2015 07:00 PM PST

I have always been disappointed at the lack of a graffiti culture in India, the country offers such a wide canvas and subject yet the street art culture is extremely negligible. We had a few spurts of fine street art here and there but nothing as great compared to the ones by 'Guess Who' which is dotting the walls of Kochi, in Kerala, India.

'Guess who' is already being called as the 'Indian Banksy' by the media and there is no reason why he shouldn't be called as such. 'Guess who's' fusion pop culture art is in large part very similar to Banksy's in style with heavy use of monochrome colors. Banksy uses stencil but 'Guess who' uses Wheat paste posters which are faster to apply, but it is also very temporal in nature. Also it will easily get destroyed during rains, i seriously wish he would have used stencil but then every artist has their own style and approach. Like Banksy 'Guess who' has chosen to remain anonymous, which means its not about the artist but about the art.

Some of the subjects are very local which only Keralites would understand, like Che Guevara in Lungi with a beedi is a take on the coolies affiliated with the Communist party in Kerala. There is also the popular characters from children's comic book Mayavi shown as Superman and Wonderwoman kissing which is a take on the Kiss of Love protest. Raja Ravi Varma and Kanayi Kunhiraman are shown as graffiti artists with a spraycan. Most works are essentially very Indian in nature and its not something the international audience will easily relate to, but then street art has to be local so that it can attract the local people to art. And these works by 'Guess who' can seriously do that, because the work is extremely smart, approachable and visually powerful.

source: Guess Who on Facebook