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An interesting interplay taking place at the Space 118 Foundation. Sculptures from across time and geographies are entering into dialogue with one another as part of the ongoing exhibition, ‘Sculpting Air’.
Curated by Sumesh Sharma, the show draws from art patron Saloni Doshi’s collection and features 150 sculptural works by 35 artists such as Tarini Sethi, Tanya Goel, L.N. Tallur, Sakshi Gupta, Laxma Goud, S. Nandagopal, Benitha Perciyal, and more. The selection looks at historical traditions when sculpture and architecture would get mentioned in tandem in the Shilpa Shastras while also reflecting on the language of experimentation by modern and contemporary artists.
In his curatorial note, Sharma states that ‘Sculpting Air’ holds the presence of what we call sculpture and its absence. “The sculptures manoeuvre light, shadow, texture, and form, they create immersive environments that not only engage the senses but also evoke deep emotional and intellectual responses. Each piece in the exhibition plays with the idea of perception—how we experience the world around us and how the unseen forces, such as time, memory, and thought, shape our understanding of space,” mentions the gallery note. In an interview with Lounge, Sharma looks at the connections between sculptural practices through history, and more. Edited excerpts:
How does the exhibition showcase the evolution of the sculptural language through Indian art history?
Saloni Doshi's menagerie of sculptures hold various timelines of the history of sculpture in the subcontinent. The vanguard is surely seen in the contemporary with artists such as Tanya Goel, Ayesha Singh, Bhushan Bhombale and Teja Gavankar making works that deal with our immediate political, social and cultural exigencies but the makara corbel bracket tells us of a different conceptualism where utility met decoration in the 17th century. Then there is In Thin Air, a work where L.N. Tallur welds together four lotus pedestals or kamala asanas of a Chola sculpture and we only see the feet of the statue made of panchaloha or five metals. We are made to imagine the weight the object holds but metaphorically its incompleteness makes it fragile and weightless, defying gravity.
This metaphorical stance by an artist makes us wonder what sculptures from antiquity, devoid of their utility, hold significance in our lives as holders of history, recording time and aesthetics. This exhibition is not an academic exercise or one where we provoke the methods used in museology; rather it is a show perceived as a collection of sculptures that intends to engage an audience into questioning their personal notions of sculpture.
Sculptures offer a unique tactile experience to the viewer as well as they respond to the dynamic environment. The play of light and shadow, the backdrop make an impact on how a viewer perceives a sculptural work. If you could talk about how this comes through in the exhibition as well?
Saloni's exhibition halls at Space 118 are distinguished by their tiled roofs, which resemble colonial barracks. They retain an architecture now uncommon in Bombay, and she has painted each room into pastel hues of green, pink, blue and yellow to enhance this play of light. Tarini Sethi's metal work draws a forest with shamanistic female figures engaged in a symphony of nature. A forest is a place for shadows, especially in our tropical climes where the sun rarely reaches the forest floor. Our myths and local animism is built through engagements with the play of shadows that create magical forms, whom we may assume as spirits. Antonio Puri, an artist who grew up in the Americas, assembled photos of local villagers during a residency in a village in Gujarat. He then painted their skin tones onto canvases, which are arranged in the structure of a DNA chromosome. When light hits this spiral shaped work, we see that the skin tones across caste and class are indistinguishable in their pink-brown hues. This work is a reflection on the futility of the chatur varna caste system that plagues our society and our self-authored forms of discrimination.
The exhibition allows one to make connections between different periods of Indian art history as well as varied materiality, be it between L.N. Tallur and the ancient bronze casters, and more. Could you elaborate on these dialogues taking place within the show?
I deliberately confuse the audience into deciding what and where is the antiquity and wherein lies the contemporary. Among the bronze objects we see that instruments of daily quotidian use are finely decorated and also have utility for all practical purposes. What culture decorates its everyday objects? When did this consciousness towards an equilibrium with aesthetics come about? Tallur, by only using the base of bronze sculpture, makes us imagine an impracticality of their weightlessness. He also takes away their utility through the formation of a spherical globe when he attaches each base to one other. But this globe can not roll as it is not a perfect sphere. The object is devoid of its divine utility and its practical use. He is putting out a conceptual position and the only utility is the artistic statement within the context of conceptual aesthetics. Much like when objects of yore exist in our living rooms devoid of their context or intended utility like the palanquin holders—their only role is that of markers of history and aesthetics.
What is the kind of innovation with materiality that you have seen across the works?
Bhushan Bhombale, Ayesha Singh, Tarini Sethi and Rathin Barman use the technique of welding to make their sculptures in metal. This technique was developed in modern times after industrialisation. But now across India, we see it as a craft in cities to make gates and grills of homes. Teja Gavankar makes brick structures that are circular in formation, perhaps inspired by stupas. They are designed to float— much like the promise of Buddhism that urged humans to rise above their petty existences of attachment. We also see a lot of collaboration wherein artists collaborate with mosaic makers. For instance, Benitha Perciyal revisits ancient formulae of scented powders to make her altar to Christ. We see a lot of reused material and debris—Tanya Goel repurposes debris from demolished Nehruvian buildings of Delhi and Sakshi Gupta makes use of scrap iron. The language of sculpturality does not change with our generation; it only innovates in its ways of production— one which is equitable, efficient and sustainable.
On view till 13 March at Space 118 Foundation, Mazgaon, Mumbai, 11 am to 5 pm.