Artist Statement

I found this guideline in a art blog which has a checklist of key words for creating a coherent artist statement.

https://hapstancedepart.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/to-obscure-clearly-the-artist-statement-as-art-object-participation-activator-and-institutional-critique/

My key words are:

ephemeral, abstract, fracture, fragmentation, playful,manipulation,whimsical, process oriented,subversion, small scale,organic, presence, absence.

I am interviewing myself to generate an artist statement

Q:Give two words to describe my work

A:Subversive narrative

Q:I am a multi disciplinary artist, which mediums do I like to work in?

A:Fragile mediums.I want my works to have a life span, an expiry date  and would not like my works to last forever and ever.So I like working with paper or clay, felt and more recently cut paper, shadows, sounds.My starting point is always drawing and then I  give the drawing a shape or dimension.

Q: What is my process like?

A: I like labour intensive processes .I like the work to build up slowly with adventures and misadventures along the way.

Q:What are my themes?

A: I like to see the invisible and explore ephemeral, provisional, transient things like memory, loss, change, gravity, scent.....This arises from my itinerant existence relocating every few years, establishing new relationships, constantly dismantling and rebuilding my home, getting used to new people, cultures, languages and then moving again.

Q:What are my strategies?

A: I usually like to work small.I like my audience to interact with my works very closely and intimately.

I do not want to overwhelm them with larger then life images but want them to be larger then the works which gives them a sense of power .The experience I want to create is like peeping through a key hole.The other strategy is creating something very beautiful , very detailed, and layered. Everytime the work is viewed, a new aspect which is hidden, is revealed.I want to create something vaguely familiar ,dreamlike scenes blurry, ambiguous, strange, not really believable, part truth, part fiction, a sum of disjointed parts, part cheery, part disturbing.

Q:How important is research for my work?

A:I usually start my work with research and then spin off tales from there.I work on projects or series creating a body of work around a theme rooted in reality but gradually taking off into the realm of imagination.I research images from different sources and recycle them.

Q:Are you trying to say something?

A: I am trying to make my works more abstract to say a lot and yet say nothing so it is totally open ended.

First Draft of Artist Statement

Stories interest me infinitely and I am a visual storyteller.My works are an eclectic mix of fiction and reality wherein curious images take birth and read like a story. These stories  are open ended; they have no ending nor do they contain answers to the questions they pose.

My visual landscape is intricate, detailed, layered and complex, fashioned out of the resources of myths,& legends , Indian Miniature paintings, childrens' literature and contemporary culture as metaphorical correlatives to my experiences, bringing alive an alternate universe, where the real and the imagined coexist.

I  peel the layers and look  inside out.The fragments that make up my artworks weave and re-weave interpretations. The challenging of logic and the introduction of absurd allegories give an interesting edge to my work. What fascinates me is the contrast between what appears on the surface and what lies beneath. 

I work with delicate mediums like clay,felt paper,shadows, sounds, because  I like a certain fragility to be attached to my work .

I prefer labour intensive, process oriented methods of creating like printmaking, handcutting paper, handbuilding clay,making plastercasts of objects,weaving, knitting, cutting, stitching, glueing. I intend to create works like mazes, spider webs or venus fly traps which would draw the viewer very close and then trap them in.

The themes I like to investigate  are invisible ,sublime and ephemeral like memory, gravity, scent, change  or  time.