The Roots in our lives and the journey or Routes one takes, determines where
we are at the moment. Life is a series of moments and experiences. Art is what
we are at a certain moment, exploring within and expressing.
My life has been deeply influenced by the manufacturing industry for more
than 35 years; being married into an industrial family. Metal, Casting,
Production, Time, Discipline, Workers, Schedules, Meetings and Agenda, are words
and concepts which are ingrained in my mind.
As I explore the roots of this fascination, and in my work for the Kochi
Biennale 2016, I have depicted the beginnings of the journey of Metal and the blast
furnace where Metal originates. I also feel fascinated with workers, the discipline
and the routine of their lives.
As an Artist, I feel like representing aspects of it. I see that I love factory sheds
- the tall imposing spaces, raw, and with steel girders running across. The rough
factory floors, the metal lying around. The textures, shapes and colors created in them.
- THE FIRE WITHIN 6’x 12’, Acrylic on Canvas, 2016
The Painting 'Fire Within' is of a scene from our factory at Hospet,
where with a blast furnace and a foundry, pig iron and castings are made.
- MONKEY MIND Animation, 2016. Duration 00:02:20 Playing in a loop on a
standalone monitor
Hospet is close to Hampi and Kishkinda - the birthplace of 'Hanuman'.
It is scattered with temples devoted to this great deity.
'Hanuman' was my mother's favourite 'God'. She would recite the
'Hanuman Chalisa' and visit the temple every Tuesday. She gave every
member of our family a book of the 'Hanuman Chalisa' and a small image
of Hanuman, to keep them safe.
I have recently lost my mother and feel the urge to understand her beliefs
and love for this God. I search for interpretations and probably old roots
of iconography and symbolism in human mythology to make meaning of both my
imagination and my own spiritual search.
The idea 'what we think, is what one becomes’ plays on my mind. Controlling
one's thoughts and actions. Using one's intellect to take 'in'- and 'take out'
like in 'Pranayam', which Hanuman practices.
So I put this figure as the 'Monkey Mind' in the scene of the blast furnace and
ambience of the factory - as the undisciplined mind playing havoc and creating fires.
And as He uses his intellect to discipline and harness his mind, He sits in 'Pranayam'
and meditation... inhaling with thought and exhaling with consciousness.
- OBSERVER 3’ x 7’ Fibre, Recycled Monitor Shell, Recycled iPad loaded with
'I Am' movie, Stand. 2016.
In my earlier works, I had an Observer within my paintings. An Observer
who watched the world depicted on the painting - be it links, attachments
or a factory scene.
As a part of the Fire Within installation, I made the Observer stand outside
the canvas with a monitor head. The monitor plays the animation 'I Am', which
is a representation of the memory and actions playing within my mind.
- I AM Animation, Duration 00:02:20, Playing in a loop inside the Observer, 2016
'I Am' this and that. As beings, we are our mind, body, intellect or something beyond.
We are just 'observers' watching life - much like one watches theatre or a movie.
Life's theatre.
Finding oneself through 'Tapas', searching, and the passion of discovering the
'Fire Within'…
My work at the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016
The Roots in our lives and the journey or Routes one takes, determines where
we are at the moment. Life is a series of moments and experiences. Art is what
we are at a certain moment, exploring within and expressing.
My life has been deeply influenced by the manufacturing industry for more
than 35 years; being married into an industrial family. Metal, Casting,
Production, Time, Discipline, Workers, Schedules, Meetings and Agenda, are words
and concepts which are ingrained in my mind.
As I explore the roots of this fascination, and in my work for the Kochi
Biennale 2016, I have depicted the beginnings of the journey of Metal and the blast
furnace where Metal originates. I also feel fascinated with workers, the discipline
and the routine of their lives.
As an Artist, I feel like representing aspects of it. I see that I love factory sheds
- the tall imposing spaces, raw, and with steel girders running across. The rough
factory floors, the metal lying around. The textures, shapes and colors created in them.
- THE FIRE WITHIN 6’x 12’, Acrylic on Canvas, 2016
The Painting 'Fire Within' is of a scene from our factory at Hospet,
where with a blast furnace and a foundry, pig iron and castings are made.
- MONKEY MIND Animation, 2016. Duration 00:02:20 Playing in a loop on a
standalone monitor
Hospet is close to Hampi and Kishkinda - the birthplace of 'Hanuman'.
It is scattered with temples devoted to this great deity.
'Hanuman' was my mother's favourite 'God'. She would recite the
'Hanuman Chalisa' and visit the temple every Tuesday. She gave every
member of our family a book of the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ and a small image
of Hanuman, to keep them safe.
I have recently lost my mother and feel the urge to understand her beliefs
and love for this God. I search for interpretations and probably old roots
of iconography and symbolism in human mythology to make meaning of both my
imagination and my own spiritual search.
The idea 'what we think, is what one becomes’ plays on my mind. Controlling
one's thoughts and actions. Using one's intellect to take 'in'- and 'take out'
like in 'Pranayam', which Hanuman practices.
So I put this figure as the 'Monkey Mind' in the scene of the blast furnace and
ambience of the factory - as the undisciplined mind playing havoc and creating fires.
And as He uses his intellect to discipline and harness his mind, He sits in 'Pranayam'
and meditation... inhaling with thought and exhaling with consciousness.
- OBSERVER 3’ x 7’ Fibre, Recycled Monitor Shell, Recycled iPad loaded with
'I Am' movie, Stand. 2016.
In the installation of the Kochi Biennale, The Torso with a Monitoe Head observes the happenings of the Monkey Mind and the depictions on the painting Fire Within.
The Feeling of being an Observer and of detatchment as one goes through ones role od wife, mother and work.
- I AM Animation, Duration 00:02:20, Playing in a loop inside the Observer, 2016
'I Am' this and that. As beings, we are our mind, body, intellect or something beyond. We are just 'observers' watching life - much like one watches theatre or a movie. Life's theatre.
Finding oneself through ‘Tapas’, searching, and the passion of discovering the 'Fire Within'…
