The Magic Pencil
2020
series of drawings on TOMY Megasketcher Classics, with Generic Shaka Laka Boom Boom rubber heads
13 x 16.7 x 3 inches
The Magic Pencil takes off from the popular Indian TV show, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, that was broadcast on Star Plus beween 2002 to 2004. It tells the story of a boy named Sanju, who comes in possession of a magic pencil. With this pencil, anything he draws comes to life, and once its intended function is completed, faithfully disappears.
Within the show, this magic pencil functions as a technological gadget - one that can be used towards achieving an infinite range of desires. In realising these desires, it also presents a world without consequence - instead of accumulating like all material objects, these entities simply disappear, or can even be erased away.
For this series of drawings, moments from the show, ranging from the act of drawing to the drawn object’s manifestation, are produced using a magic slate toy. Usually a tool for temporary drawing, reliant on its function of quick and easy erasure, the magic slate is an object that replicates the logic and terminology associated with the TV show, though without its truly magical potential.
Suspended in a state of temporary stability, these drawings are presented fitted with mass produced rubber heads from the TV show’s informal merchandising.
2020
series of drawings on TOMY Megasketcher Classics, with Generic Shaka Laka Boom Boom rubber heads
13 x 16.7 x 3 inches
The Magic Pencil takes off from the popular Indian TV show, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, that was broadcast on Star Plus beween 2002 to 2004. It tells the story of a boy named Sanju, who comes in possession of a magic pencil. With this pencil, anything he draws comes to life, and once its intended function is completed, faithfully disappears.
Within the show, this magic pencil functions as a technological gadget - one that can be used towards achieving an infinite range of desires. In realising these desires, it also presents a world without consequence - instead of accumulating like all material objects, these entities simply disappear, or can even be erased away.
For this series of drawings, moments from the show, ranging from the act of drawing to the drawn object’s manifestation, are produced using a magic slate toy. Usually a tool for temporary drawing, reliant on its function of quick and easy erasure, the magic slate is an object that replicates the logic and terminology associated with the TV show, though without its truly magical potential.
Suspended in a state of temporary stability, these drawings are presented fitted with mass produced rubber heads from the TV show’s informal merchandising.
