An online exhibition and launch of three new suites of monochromatic minimal works by New Delhi based artist Chetnaa, represented by Anupa Mehta Arts, explores tendencies and potentialities of square space. Tiled P=4 L {Deconstructing Square Space} the show is up for viewing on Instagram pages of Anupa Mehta Arts and represented artist, Chetnaa.
Showcasing three new suites of minimal art works such as ‘Ombres’, ‘Presence/ Absence’ and ‘Lines in a Grid’ are based on elemental geometric shapes either a square or a rectangle, such as the current situation that has made us go back to what is basic and what is elemental as per the artist. All works represent the supremacy of pure artistic feeling rather than a visual representation of objects. More from the interview:
What led you to launch this show on Instagram?
Given the current situation and its unsurety of when it will be normal again for viewers to visit an art gallery, my gallerist Anupa Mehta decided to take this exhibition online on Instagram, thereby also giving the works more visibility and reach than they would have received in a white cube.
Share your experience with us using Instagram to explore the potentialities of square space as an artist?
I have been working and experimenting with a shape – essentially a square since the year 2018. I have been constantly challenging its shape, its meanings and ways to enter into its dynamics. Somewhere the shape has been intact and somewhere it has been left to the imagination. Instagram is an interesting platform, a space that grows and evolves around your preferences.
Tell us about your preferred themes in the city. What led your interest in this/these?
Every non representational artist tends to articulate and take inference from what is around them. Being brought up in a metropolis and being surrounded by man made shapes around myself has led me to extensively decompose the urban architecture through my works. The verticals, the horizontals, the city’s grid are some of my preferred themes. It was everyday travels in the city from one point to another that subconsciously inspired my initial works on paper. The lines that I would see criss crossing everyday – be it the electric wires following u everywhere or the markings on a road, influenced my early practice.
What kind of places interest you in the city?
To be able to view a city from a vantage point, from where its grid-like structure becomes visible, is what interests me in a city.
What drew your interest in abstract works?
After I completed my bachelors, I had a year off before I could apply for my masters. I started reading and researching a lot about Bauhaus, Wassily Kandinsky and non-representational art and slowly found myself being drawn to abstract art. I started exploring the latter and produced a large number of works in that one year and continued my experiments with abstraction during my masters as well. My professor, Abhimanyu V.G. really helped me to develop my visual language. He introduced me to artists like Zarina Hashmi, Nasreen Mohamedi and Agnes Martin whose works had a huge impact on me.
Tell us about your next show.
Fingers crossed, I hope the next show can be a physical one , where my viewers interact with the works and go closer to view them. I am currently working on two – three new mediums in my studio and trying to perfect the same before they can be seen by someone else.