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An art exhibition using unconventional media

Neha Alawadhi

About urban subjects:‘Kalki' by Siddhartha Kararwal (above) and ‘Plucking at the Heart Strings' by Kartik Sood (below) which will be on display at the exhibition.

NEW DELHI: Art that embodies a shift from conventional media and is supplemented by a candid and fresh thought process is what the works of four artists -- Deepjyoti Kalita, Kartik Sood, Nityananda Ojha and Siddhartha Kararwal -- seek to achieve.

The artists, graduates from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, have used contemporary media to showcase their ideas that will be featured in Urban Testimonies, an exhibition beginning July 17 at Art Gallery Latitude 28.

Latitude 28 director Bhavna Kakar says, “Despite being young, they are not afraid. All the artists are convinced about their work.”

The show has an interesting mix of experimental paintings and sculptures that have “not shunned away the traditional forms”, she insists.

Sood's work titled “ Plucking at the Heart Strings”, for instance, uses light as the medium. A set of 10 backlit paintings with images of children connected to each other through loose strings is a reference to cultural identities and living environments.

“I have used normal bulbs. The images are about memories. I have collected these over time, in seven to eight years,” says Sood. He adds that the entire show is a reflection of our “urban culture” through time.

Ojha, who uses media as varied as junk jewellery, acrylic and stone among others, agrees that though the show is experimental, it is independent, not thematic. “The material used is a metaphor,” he says. Talking about one of his works, he says the idea was to depict the existence of feelings whose value is dead.

Kararwal's work involves materials like plastic bags, foam sheets, firecrackers, cardboard, bronze, iron, copper, fibre, clay and plaster of Paris. His work titled “ Kalki”, a cosmonaut suit prepared from waste material, is a satirical attack on man's negligence towards environment.

On the other hand, Kalita's works centre around the challenges of duplicity, insecurity and instability. His work titled “ The Incompetence of being Complete”, made with acrylic, fibre glass, iron, LED and paper, displays an apparent restlessness of the central figure of a man. The work depicts the search and constant confusion of a “perfect decision” by the man.

Though each artist worked independently and each work is personal, the “whole show together, is connected,” says Sood.

Agrees Ms. Kakar, “It is about urban subjects, the kind we deal with everyday. The works stand well together.”

The exhibition will open today at Latitude 28, Lado Sarai and will be on till August 18.

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