When you are born to practising doctors, you are expected to follow in their footsteps, white coat, stethoscope, et al. But Himani Gupta doesn’t believe in adhering to such a conventional thought. Little wonder then that the Himachal Pradesh-born Gupta, after her stints as a management consultant, urban researcher and spatial designer, is now a full-time artist, working in mixed media, especially painting, layering, and drawing.
The 35-year-old artist’s work studies ‘psychogeography’, the impact of the built environment on human emotions and identity and how land, spaces and cities evolve both structurally and organically. The Italian Embassy Cultural Centre recently showcased Gupta’s works at their India Art Fair booth.
Excerpts:
How and why did you switch from working in the corporate sector to being a fulltime artist?
After a long route comprising a very diverse education and professional background spanning interior design and management consulting (concerning infrastructure and cities), I returned to arts fulltime, around three years ago. With all this experience, travel and study (and more underway), I felt the only means of expression and introspection that could do justice was the visual arts, which is a medium I love dearly.
What inspired you to become an artist?
The idea of creating something from the beginning using what I see and experience inspires me. I engage with my immediate surroundings by means of paintings, drawings, sketches, sound recordings and verbal accounts of people whose stories I choose to include in my works. History also contributes to my process greatly.
Who do you consider as your ideal and why?
The works of Alghiero Boetti, Mark Bradford and Anthony Gormley have inspired me and influenced my works – linking my academic research to my aesthetic style and art practice, making them my most admired artists in present times. Boettie’s travel and use of maps is something that resonates with me personally. The use of the figurative in the context of space in Gormley’s installations is an important reference point for me. Bradford’s tactile and large scale works influence me to express emotional and political experiences through medium and material.
What’s Right to the City that you often talk about?
Cities, land, nature and their components feature heavily in my work as I believe they catalyse movements, politics, conflict and human collaborations. A key theme I explore in my work is Right to the City through mobility and associations formed through experiences provided by a spatial environment.
Do art fairs help the propagation of art and artists?
Art fairs are important cultural contributors in a city. Art fairs, which are inclusive, do result in higher community cohesiveness and reaching the masses through art and discourse. But it all depends on how art fairs are curated. A successful art fair should not only be visually appealing, but also contribute to the intellectual and creative capital of society and bring people together to engage in appreciating art and culture.