Chandigarh-based artist Gurjeet Singh’s mushy sculptures and Delhi-based artist Tarini Sethi’s iron-and-shadow sculptures are on present at Chemould Shift, a newly-opened artwork house in Mumbai that helps breakthrough younger artists on the cusp of fame
Chandigarh-based artist Gurjeet Singh’s mushy sculptures and Delhi-based artist Tarini Sethi’s iron-and-shadow sculptures are on present at Chemould Shift, a newly-opened artwork house in Mumbai that helps breakthrough younger artists on the cusp of fame
At Mumbai’s Chemould/Shift, a gallery house, which is an extension of 59-year-old up to date artwork gallery Chemould Prescott Road, textile artist Gurjeet Singh makes emotive mushy sculptures out of discarded items of printed fabric.
A metaphor for rejection of the flawed, his alternative of fabric manifests feelings triggered by childhood recollections of bullying and harassment. Born and raised in Punjab’s Algon Kothi, a village almost 50 kilometres from Amritsar, Gurjeet shares how he pertains to the sensation of being ousted, similar to the rejected items from the flawlessly constant bolts of cloth. “They called me girlish. They would tease me, forcibly kiss me, touch me and harass me. Often, I would go home and cry,” remembers the 27-year-old Chandigarh-based artist.
The youngest amongst his siblings (4 sisters and a brother), Gurjeet feels he’s fortunate to have studied at Chandigarh’s Government College of Art. “In cities, it feels like you’re living in the 21st century, which is not the case in villages. They are centuries behind us, as far as people’s thinking goes. Art is a vent to my experiences, especially the ones I went through in school. It has saved me from getting buried under the weight of my emotions,” he says, at Sugra Manzil, a century-old residential constructing in Colaba, which homes Chemould/SHIFT that was began in March by Atyaan Jungalwala and Sunaina Rajan.
A platform for younger artists
“Through this new gallery space, we want to support breakthrough young artists at the start of their careers. For our first set of resident artists, we wanted to have people who are working with different materials and mediums. We wanted them to share the same space and experiences ,” says Sunaina. The gallery has determined to host a summer season residency programme, spanning eight to 12 weeks yearly. “The artists are provided with a place to stay and a studio space where they can work,” she provides.
(l) Sunaina, (r) Atyaan
As one of many three artists invited for the gallery’s first three-month residency, Gurjeet says he has made about 5 mushy sculptures since he moved to Mumbai in May for the residency. “The story behind the sculptures is about a Punjabi boy who I call Kirat. Kirat writes about queer people of Punjab. One of his stories is about a dream. It’s about how the smallest of experiences leave a lasting impression on the subconscious. I am recreating the expressions of characters in the dream with rejected pieces of fabric from thaans (bolts). I feel the material is much like me,” he says. Gurjeet doesn’t simply wish to query gender norms and perceptions, but in addition the thought of magnificence and perfection. “From where I come, dark-skinned people are often told they won’t get married. I want to question the idea of beauty, not just gender perception through my work,” he says.
A utopian house
At a visual distance from Gurjeet, Delhi-based visible artist Tarini Sethi (32) is making iron-and-shadow artwork installations on the gallery, utilizing acrylics, welded iron and laser-cut metallic. Art runs in her household. “My father is a product designer and my mother runs an NGO that revives languishing crafts. I have always been eccentric and strange. Through art, I express imaginative spaces where everything is almost perfect,” she says. Most of her artwork revolves across the concept of utopia. She attracts inspiration from myths and folks tales. “A lot of my work is based on my dreams. I express the imbalance of human relationships and create installations where sculptures cast shadows of a utopian space, sort of an alternate realm, on the wall,” she says. A commentary on human-nature relationships, Tarini’s artwork displays the thought of an ideal world, the place love and kinship take centre stage.
Tarini Sethi
While Gurjeet and Tarni proceed their residency on the gallery, Mumbai and UK-based visible artist Rithika simply accomplished her residency a number of weeks in the past. Her artwork attracts from the non-public, the mythological, and the scientific to navigate the paranormal areas of human entanglements. Portraying points round hybridity, displacement, futurity and femininity, her painted worlds turn out to be sacred areas holding occasions the place boundaries are transgressed, and transformations are imminent. These imagined worlds suggest interstellar realities, occupied by potent psychological tropes. Her work highlights the character of companionship, restoration and opens up allegorical prospects of a future that goes past apocalypse as an endpoint.
Source: www.thehindu.com