EDGAR PINTO'S HOME IN FORT KOCHI

WOODEN TIGERS FROM BURMA, ORNATE PLAY HORSES FROM RAJASTHAN, A SCULPTURE OF A MAN IN VERDIGRIS COPPER SURROUNDED BY WATER, A THREE-HEADED GANESHA AND CHRISTIAN CHURCH ART-THE HOME OF GALLERIST AND HOTELIER EDGAR PINTO AND HIS WIFE, BREE, IN FORT KOCHI IS A SUMPTUOUS FEAST OF ART AND ANTIQUES.

- RAJASHREE BALARAM

When Edgar Pinto's wife, Bree, was pregnant with their daughter, an Australian artist couple, John and Viki Murray—who were travelling around Fort Kochi and creating art in various public spaces—offered to paint a muster of storks on his compound wall. It has been nearly two years now and in the years to come, the birds’ black-and-pink hues will inevitably fade under the assault of Kerala’s torrential rain and sweltering heat. Nevertheless, for Pinto, this piece of art is just as precious as the many rare antiques, sculptures and paintings that hold their individual prominence in his 4,000-square-foot two-storeyed home. “I do not regard myself as an art collector because I don’t eye art with any intention to ‘collect’. I simply love surrounding myself with it,” says the hotelier and gallerist. “I don’t care if an artist is a newbie or has never had a show. If his or her work moves me intensely, emotionally, in a way that cannot be easily described in words, then I know it’s the one for me.” Pinto talks about art without giving into the language of critique, despite being the owner of the iconic Kashi Art Gallery—a restored Dutch heritage house in Fort Kochi that has been hosting art exhibitions and residency programmes for nearly three decades.