As Coronavirus tore through nations, it brought with it a heavy sense of gloom; a projection of uncertainty hovered like a dark cloud, with a dreary vision of what the future held. Artist Valay Gada encapsulates these emotions through his exhibition 'Cloud Pruning', a Japanese term used for the topiary technique of training trees and shrubs into shapes resembling clouds. For this, the Delhi-based artist shifts from his usual commentaries on climate change and urbanisation to that of an internal dialogue.
"I look at clouds as something which drags you down, which obscures vision, and the act of pruning takes that away. The inspiration for the artwork began during the pandemic, especially in the second wave when everyone was suffering. Though I like solitude, I started conjuring my own devils. Self-doubt crept in and I kept questioning my work as an artist, and where it was going. There was an absolute lack of direction and the search for that is what steered the whole show," Gada says.
It was during his walks with his dogs at The Ridge in Delhi that he began observing the nature and chaos around him that triggered his existential crisis, questioning his pursuit of art. "Every time I walked on these roads; it reminded me of Robert Frost's The Road not Taken. There's a bit of regret for the road I didn't take. And you have to live with the consequences of the road path that you do take," he says.
The first installation that catches the eye is 'Paper Dream', a glimpse of his past large floral sculptural style. The artist creates a bougainvillea sculpture from brass, stoneware clay. Before the sculpture lies a bed of pressed flowers with paper bougainvillea strewn across the installation.
“I came across a carpet of bougainvillea flowers during my walks. They are also known as paper flowers. They are very fragile like paper and survive in really arid conditions. They don't need to be watered to actually bloom. So, for me, these represent dreams that we start off with when we are growing up. They are massive, vivid and colourful. Yet not all of them come to fruition,” he says.
As the handmade flowers lie on the flowerbed, they symbolise the fragility of the artist’s hopes and dreams that quickly wither in the face of reality.
The next installation are large tapestries called the ‘Reading Runes’ in earthy tones, reminiscent of the roads Gada took on the walks. The huge panels, woven by artisans in Rajasthan, sport dyed wool, seed pods, representing the debris found on the paths of the forest floor. Shining bright in golden hues, the seed pods are hand stitched onto the panels. It represents the artist’s state of mind and his attempts to read into his depressed state looking for signs of hope.
“Tea leaves, tea cups, the dregs that you see scattered across the path, they form patterns. I was trying to figure out whether it's an indication that I’m given a sign on where I should head to in life. Very often when you are reading runes, you need to handle the material yourself. Whereas over here, these seed pods were cast by natural phenomena such as rain. So, there wasn't much of a say that I had in this. It made me think of how very often we kind of get a little bit lazy and start blaming our destiny for failures,” he says.
One of his exhibits include an illustration of a forlorn bath tub the artist found during his walks that he now grows plants in. He uses a bathtub for another installation, with a screen right above it depicting moving clouds. With cushions placed at the head and its insides etched with lines from Virginia Woolf novel The Wave, the tub is built for an immersive experience. It beckons viewers to hop in, rest, look up at the screen brimming with clouds and listen to the audio of the artist’s voice reciting a poem he wrote himself.
“During my stay alone, apart from my partner, it would mess with my head sometimes. I would get inside the bathtub and recollect memories from my childhood when I would go swimming with my dad. I often completely submerged myself and cut out all the sounds from the outside. I could drown them out. In some ways, it was me trying to deal and cope with the madness there. I connected this with Sir John Everett Millais’ paintings of Ophelia surrounding her madness,” he says.
Gada describes Woolf’s The Waves as an influence too, as a character in the book would put stones in her pocket and attempt to drown herself. His poems, too, are influenced by several literary geniuses. The show reveals Gada’s inner turmoil during his dark days in a simple and raw manner. It also traces his work as a non-conforming artist, attempting different styles and ideas. It is his way of clinging to hope and beckoning his viewers to do the same.