BENGALURU: The first couple of months of the pandemic may have been uncertain for many artists but Romicon Revola has managed to sail by. Things soon turned around for the better again and the city-based sculptor is now displaying her works at an exhibition at American Club in Singapore, organised by Mayinart, a Singapore-based art gallery.
The exhibition features artists from Indonesia and a few from India, and though it is a physical show, purchases can be made virtually. “Art enthusiasts started buying more works during the lockdown. As people started working remotely, they wanted to fill their homes with art to enrich their ambience. So, by the year-end, I became busy again and I’m grateful that the lean phase didn’t last too long,” she says.
Revola is showing her smaller works from her Cosmic Bloom series but the one that is close to her heart is ‘Wind Song’, a wall-mounted sculpture that is on display. The circular orange work has metal butterflies arranged in the form of a mystical tree to symbolise a balanced eco-system. “They connote rhythm and movement. The reflective surfaces interact with the surrounding light. All the elements combine and create a sublime experience for the viewer,” she says.
Work on the series, Cosmic Bloom: Iconography for a Reimagined World Order, started in 2018. “I started making work as an artistic response to what was happening around me. There were major ecological challenges caused by unplanned urbanisation in Bengaluru. We had lakes catching fire, water shortage, landfill management issues and every day was a battle against pollution.
So, I wanted to depict an ideal way of living and engaging with nature. The Biosphere set of sculptures and the Trilokini busts are all part of this series,” she says. It started off with about 20 sculptures, which she has been adding to. For Revola, the creative process is a mix of research and drawing from direct life experience. “Conceptually, it’s a blend of both these aspects.
Then you have to give form to the concept, choosing the materials and the way each piece will manifest,” she says. Each time she makes a new work, Revola’s challenge lies in translating her imagination into physical reality. “There is a lot of trial and error involved until you are satisfied with the final output, but that is also exciting for me,” she adds.
The show will go on till March 3. Details on mayinart.com