A scarved woman pushing a wheelbarrow effortlessly with a sipper in her mouth and a broad smile across her face beams from within a small frame. A used teabag is the wheelbarrow and small bits of paper pasted together complete the artistry of the happy moment. Giridhar Khasnis’ collages are small, fascinating narratives made out of straws, dried flowers, wrappers and whatever bits he lays his hands on. Along with a pair of scissors and a glue stick, the collagist creates a fascinating mosaic. Each with its own story.
Khasnis wears many hats. A former banker, a senior art writer, curator, columnist, photographer, and the author of Kannada micro fiction. With collages, he says, he began by doodling on discarded visiting cards about three decades ago, as a banker.
“Visitors would leave their cards behind; meetings would generate small stacks. I began collecting them and scribbling on the blank backs, pasting fragments from old magazines, just to see how they would shape up. Initially a playful pastime, it slowly became a meditative engagement. I graduated to larger surfaces, such as discarded postcards, invitations, greeting cards, etc. but I preferred the intimacy of the small format. It fits comfortably in the palm and demands attention. You can be dramatic and adventurous even within a postcard, but you can also generate gentle rhythms, poetic chronicles, and abstract formations. You can hear the whispers, enjoy the tactile experience. Small is indeed beautiful,” says Khasnis.
Though paper-on-paper remains his preferred real estate, he enjoys disruptions. “A tea bag offers stains no brush can create. A wrapper carries traces of desire and disposal. These elements infuse life to the collage,” he says.
Khasnis has studied artists like Picasso and Braque who inserted everyday materials into painting. But the artist he really admires is Kurt Schwitters. “He refused hierarchies of material. That democratic impulse resonates strongly with me. A torn eyebrow from a fashion magazine, a newspaper headline, a faded postage stamp are pieces that have lived before they reach me. I don’t create them; I negotiate with them. By adding, peeling off, sticking, rotating, pressing till a satisfactory image emerges. What keeps me engaged is the uncertainty. Two scraps may suddenly ‘click,’ and that moment of alignment is pure delight,” adds Khasnis.
The excitement that began on the back of a visiting card has not faded. “It has deepened into a daily ritual of cutting, arranging, pasting, waiting, discovering. For me, collage is not about turning waste into beauty. It is about allowing fragments to find new relationships – and reminding myself that even the smallest surface can still hold surprise,” says the artist