Bangalore Sept 20: Art needs no voice, it can speak with the sound of silence to all those who are willing to listen.  Dreams painted on canvas by the hearing impaired can take you into a world that may be different from your own but to your surprise you find this world is no less colourful than yours.

Ganesh Shetty at work

Such are the silent visuals painted by Ganesh Shetty.  They are so spellbinding that they take you through a kaeledoscope of colours that give you a glimpse into the very soul of the artist himself.  And if you find yourself stumbling to understand a particular abstract then the artiste is there to explain it for you. And no sound is needed.  Splayed fingers and expressions of the sign language convey what the artist has intended to convey all along.

Manur Chandrashekar Ganesh Shetty or M.C. Ganesh Shetty as he is more popularly known speaks through his paintings even though he lost his speech and hearing at the age of five following a bout of severe fever.  He was already into sketching and painting at this time and was encouraged by his parents to continue.  The family hails from Manoor in Kota (the place where Kota Shivaram Karanth was born), near Kundapur. At present they are settled in Basaveshwaranagar, Bangalore. Ganesh's father Chandra Shekar Shetty is into Hotel Business and mother Kusuma Shetty is a house wife.  Ganesh is the eldest of four siblings.

His brother Srinivas who is a Software Engineer in Bangalore is the second son, followed by Mahesh and Mamta the youngest.  Srinivas says that their parents never differentiated between Ganesh and the rest of the children. He was always considered normal in the family.