The intent was to showcase how artists were inspired to ‘work with’ paper as the primary medium in their art practice and not just a surface to ‘work upon’ as in a painting,” says Mala Aneja, who recently curated the exhibition, titled Of Paper in the capital city at her Gallery Art Motif.
The six artists in the show have brought a range of distinct artworks to the gallery. In the works of Ziya Tarapore, one could come across colourful paper installations inspired by floral elements often seen in and around the water bodies. Pierre Legrand’s installations appear like curtains to the common eye. The meticulous cuttings on these ‘curtains’ create beautiful patterns on the adjacent walls, when sunlight light passes through these.
While Sachin Tekade artworks looks at the futuristic architecture, Sachin George Sebastian brings the viewer face to face with the present built environment. Artist Chetnaa too, gives utmost importance to the landscape of the city through paper.
She has used the embossing technique. “The core of my practice focuses on the series of geometricism and lines reflective of the urban metroscape. My works are largely inspired from the landscape and architecture of my city, keen observations of the metropolis translated into an eloquent schematic of lines and markers,” says the artist in a conversation with The Morning Standard.
She further elaborates on her artwork, titled Series: Impression. “This one is a conscious effort to reduce the pictorial meaning to a bare essential one in a work of art. As the minimalist definition, the works are not trying to imitate or represent any found object or reality but instead I want my viewer to respond to what’s in front of them,” adding, “My paper works are can be identified as minimalist geometric musings drawn largely from the landscape and the architecture of my city.
Ankon Mitra who has created origami artworks in the exhibition talks about his technique. “Origami Tessellations start with a geometric or mathematical basis. The concept of the work is an idea in the imagination. This is thrown into the casting of the geometry. The most challenging part of the process is to translate a 2-Dimensional sketch into a 3-Dimensional form.
He further adds, “The metaphor of the idea sometimes translates into a directly representational form (for instance, the Bells of Light are really bell-shaped), and at other times into abstract geometric representations (like in the Two Poles of All Life, which depicts the sun, moon and the cosmos).”