Truck art: Eyes on art, hands on wheel

Graphic artist Orijit Sen’s works are often anchored in satire—visuals that provide sharp political and social commentary. Of late, Sen has been using social media to exhibit his work. “I like to find new ways to show my work in public spaces, not necessarily in galleries," he says on the phone. His witty renditions of “truck art", for instance, have found immense appreciation.

The truck art series was initially commissioned as “bus wrap" (graphics that wrap around public transport vehicles) for the Indian Summer festival in Vancouver, Canada, two years ago. For this, Sen trawled through street sign references and truck motifs—slogans he had collected over decades—“to use them to make my own comments about India, Canada, and about the idea of exchange". Taking inspiration from there, he now plans to make similar visuals into car stickers to address the issue of road safety. “I think the worst drivers on the road are the car drivers. These visual messages are for them," he says.

In the early 1990s, Sen began documenting street signs—many of which were road safety visuals with quirky phrases—during his trips to the hills with family. “The signposts pitched on the mountain highways were clever and funny; they were witty enough to keep the drivers awake at night," Sen adds.

Now he intends to introduce these stickers in a small online store which he will launch later this year for graphic art, posters and T-shirts.