In front of us, hanging on a white wall are nine bone china works of plates carrying dead birds. The work, ‘Untuned Sound Of Leaves Falling From The Ignorant Sky,’ by Jodhpur-based ceramist Sarban Chowdhury is an eye-opener. It chooses shock to shed light on nature conservation. “Back in November 2019, thousands of migratory birds died mysteriously in Rajasthan’s Sambhar Lake, the country’s largest inland saltwater lake near Jaipur, sending shock waves among locals and authorities. My work raises awareness about human greed as one of the major factors resulting in climate change and contamination of our ecosystem that’s silently destroying our natural flora and fauna,” he says.
Move a little further, another of his ceramic artworks, ‘A Well Full Of Shadows’ investigates the idea of privacy invasion. A set of 12 Bone China plates with thumbprint impressions are indicative of identity theft. “Fingerprints play a vital role in determining who we are in an era of technological advancement that has access to all our personal information including dermatoglyphics. Is that data safe? Is anyone misusing it? My work portrays this fear and anxiety that I have been experiencing lately,” the artist adds.
Chowdhury’s work is part of ‘Yuva Sumbhava’, an interesting exhibition at Delhi’s Shridharani Gallery featuring 12 young ceramic artists, curated by National Award-winning ceramist, P R Daroz. Organised by Raza Foundation in collaboration with Triveni Kala Sangam and supported by Gallerie Nvya, the display explores the long tradition and new prospects of ceramics featuring works of artists like Ajaysingh Bhadoriya, Arti Paliwal, Birender Yadav, Devesh Upadhyay, Kopal Seth, Kritika Soni, Maulik Oza, Owanka Bhattacharjee, Revati Jayakrishnan, Sarban Chowdhury, Suvajit Mondal and Srinia Chowdhury.
“These young artists are giving a bold new treatment to clay by using it in different forms, like stoneware, terracotta, porcelain, and sandware clay. Their works are diverse — from the reliefs of Birender Yadav to three-dimensional structures as seen in Owanka Bhattacharjee and Suvajit Mondal’s works and even the flats of Kopal Seth. They have inventively used new-age techniques like electric firing, ceramic glaze, and gas kilns,” Daroz tells TMS.
Different strokes
During our walk-through, Delhi-based ceramic artist Kritika Soni’s artwork sparked curiosity for showing beauty in imperfections. Her work ‘Broken and Beautiful’ had 12 frayed wall vessels in stoneware painted in light shades of crimson, mint green, butter yellow and powder blue with impressions of gold-painted florals, fabric and textured glazes. “I have always been inspired by the Japanese philosophy Wabi Sabi, which is embracing imperfections and finding beauty in it. I used ceramics to make surfaces that were a reflection of the way nature works – real and raw.”
Ajaysingh Bhadoriya of Maharashtra works on a similar theme of finding beauty in natural decay in his work ‘The Afterlife Of Dying Buildings’. Its three stoneware structures feature dilapidated doors and windows that express the untold story of time.
Azamgarh-born pottery and ceramics artist Devesh Upadhyay touches on existentialism in a comical five-head sculpture titled ‘Existential Struggle.’ “Each head symbolises the Observer, the Critic, the Seeker, the Reflector, and the Conflicted and how each of them represent different facets of our psyche. It highlights the absurdity of our quest for meaning, inviting viewers to reflect on their own existential journeys with a touch of humour,” he explains. Patna-born Srinia Chowdhury’s comical face mask-clad stone and sandware sculptures titled ‘Wondergirl’ and ‘Mischief Master’ affirm self-acceptance and connecting with your inner child as against donning stereotypical roles assigned by society.
Ahmedabad-based Maulik Oza showed a radical display of ceramics transforming it into massive coils, warp and weft patterns and infinite loops for statement pieces. On the other front, Delhi-based Arti Paliwal transformed stoneware into a biological heart-shaped structure in ‘Untitled-2’ and Mumbai-born Revati Jayakrishnan turned terracotta into ‘Hexa Stacks’ in her eponymous work.
Appreciating the works at the exhibition, freelance artist Padmini Mehta who had come from Varanasi says: “This is a great initiative by Raza Foundation to recognise the works of young ceramicists. I found each work experimental, interesting and fresh. There are artworks to beautify every space — from garden, bedroom, dining hall to patio.”
Down the ages
Ceramics has its roots in pottery in the Indian subcontinent dating back to 2,500 BC during the Harappan civilisation. Daroz shares how India, particularly, has been a wonderland of clay, “Once I was taking a workshop with village potters at Bharat Bhawan in Bhopal, almost 30 years back. There, every potter was rigid that they would use clay only from their village! That is the wonder of India wherever you go, you will find different clays in different geographies, all around.” He notes the resurgence of ceramics in modern India.
“Back in the ’60s and the ’70s, when I used to work in Garhi Studio, there used to be only a handful of notable ceramists like Kalindi Vedan Jena, Devi Prasad, Nirmala Patwardhan, to name some. National-level exhibitions also did not allow fragile artworks to be displayed. Now after four decades, we are seeing a welcome change.
Ceramists are getting a platform at exhibitions and are even being bestowed with awards.”