This is the first time I am attempting to address the process of making art. Perhaps because the making of art has always been about removing all obstacles between myself and the conceived notion. It could be that most of my art making skills were picked up outside a conventional art education program. That is not to say that I have not had the good fortune of learning craft making from some of the most dedicated artists employed by top notch institutions such as the School of Visual Arts, New York Institute of Technology and The Birla Academy. My degree has been in TV/ print production and Business, perhaps that’s the reason I have not broached the topic of art making in the past.
Envisioning across two planes
Converting a 2-D sketch to a sculpture is about envisioning a visual element across two separate planes. These works – etched, inked and colorized on a flat surface, occupy a 3-D space easily because of their transparency. Unwilling to be bound in a square or rectangular surface, I moved to circular canvases when it came to painting. Eventually, that too started to feel confining so I moved to construction cones as they occupy a 3-D space yet do not conform to either a square or a circle or any other single specific shape…
In the end it is all about playing with shapes and forms! The transparency of my material allows for these sculptural pieces to occupy a 3-D space very easily, without occupying a large footprint. These works easily embrace the environs it occupies, which is perfect since art is after all, supposed to imitate life and vice versa! These works pick up bits and pieces of information while they go from venue to venue.
Meat Eating Plants and Tattoo
Meat eating plants are strange in a way. Delicate and colorful, these plants are unassuming and yet deadly for the prey that inadvertently steps into their territory. Inspired by Siddhartha Mukherjee’s “The Gene” these works are a tribute to the process of evolution. The graphic lines of tattoo art are incorporated into “Elements” such as water and fire to celebrate the imprint of life on this planet much like scraping off the outer layer of skin on one’s body to mark it with a statement about the self!
