June 12: A British artist and his wife who have made the city their home since last August, wandering around and city soaking in its architecture, capturing them on camera or canvas, shared his experience with an audience at Studio21.

Artist-writer-magician Geoff Tibbs present a heady mix of photographs, narration and artwork - The red thread of experience - inspired by a story by his favourite author Walter Benjamin.

"I was working with art installations in the UK. Calcutta made me take up painting that I had stopped a decade ago," said Tibbs, who graduated in fine arts from Oxford.

A few visits to the city in the past fascinated Tibbs enough to want to shift here for a while. "I rented a studio in Bowbazar and have been working there since last year," he said.

Besides painting abstract images, he also wants to unravel the essence of traditional motifs and patterns found in old architecture and furniture.

He began his presentation with a clipping of his video installation in a gallery at Milton Keynes in the UK. He juxtaposed it with his present work, which is a collection of brightly coloured abstract paintings, many resembling frescoes and glass paintings.

Some of Tibbs' subjects were objects of everyday life such as a switchboard or a latch.

"Explaining art can be boring. You should be pushed to a point where you don't know what inspired you and how," he said about his artwork.

What interests the artist the most are the various decorative motifs that he discovers everyday during is walks around the city. "I had a lot of questions crossing my mind as I came upon them. What is the meaning of these patterns, what were they inspired from," said the British who loves his luchi and alu posto.

Tibbs also read out a piece written by him on windows of old houses, underlining how they are both artistic as well as practical at the same time.

He also showed a book of designs for window grilles that is part of his collection. "Upmarket designers are increasingly copying from the Internet now. The personal nature of grille work connected to hand drawing is on its way out," Tibbs said.

Tibbs felt that the city and its art have also inspired the magician in him. "Writing, artwork and magic are all inter-linked," he signed off.