Awtar Singh Virdi paints at his residence in Jamshedpur on Monday. Pictures by Animesh Sengupta

The eye sees random swirls on a flat surface, but through a cylindrical mirror, recognises a regular painting. Called anamorphosis, creativity meets acute technical precision in this rare form of trick art. And Jamshedpur-based Awtar Singh Virdi (73) is one of its rare practitioners.

And now, the man whose name figures in Guinness Book of World Records (2003) and Limca Book of Records (2004) for creating the world’s largest anamorphic painting (10ft x 10ft) of the then US President George W. Bush, is doing something that no one has done before.

The former employee of Tata Motors and Tata Steel is fusing aluminium scratch art with anamorphic painting.

Simply put, earlier he painted on paper, but now he does so on a sheet of aluminium. The catch? On aluminium, unlike paper, there is no room for inaccuracy or erasure. So, his apparently random swirls must be made with such precision as to transform into an accurate and proportionate painting when seen through a cylindrical steel mirror.

“I’m the world’s only artist to do such a fusion. The first portrait that I’ve drawn using these two techniques is that of US President Barrack Obama,” says Virdi proudly.

He has been drawing anamorphic paintings since the past 55 years. What keeps him going?

“Anything on a flat surface appears deformed when seen through a cylindrical mirror. Anamorphic painting works on just the opposite principle. Here you create the deformed image on a flat surface to enable the viewer see the painting from the cylindrical mirror,” he said.

But how did he hit on the concept? For instance, did he know that Leonardo’s Eye by Leonardo da Vinci, way back in the 15th century was an earliest example of this art form?

Virdi says it was pure chance. As an 18-year-old employee at Tata Motors, he chanced to see his distorted image on a brand-new Mercedes Benz parked inside the company. “I and my friends were having fun seeing our distorted reflections. Suddenly, I got a brainwave and sketched my distorted image ,” he said.

Thus began the journey of the self-taught artist. But the list of celebrities who have appreciated him can be the envy of any one boasting art college degrees and Sotheby’s auctions — Jawaharlal Nehru, Manmohan Singh, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to name some.

The workaholic is now busy with a giant portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.