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“Art is not a
handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced."
Leo Tolstoy
Traditional Indian Art has always been a
holistic one. Having its roots in the divine, the act of creating becomes a
gesture of the Divine. And a segment from the Vishnudharmottara Purana
illustrates this perfectly . It is the conversation between the Sage Markandeya
and the powerful King Vajra. When Vajra wished to learn the art of sculpture,
the sage instructed the powerful king to learn painting, dance and music before
he could even think of producing an art work.
Thus the blurring of boundaries in art
craft and design have always been part of the art practice in ancient India. In
contemporary India we go a step further with the intervention of technology
within the dynamic contemporary art practice. From the gesture of the divine we
move into a more temporal geography where man’s interface with technology
produces art which is both spiritual, physical, sensory and also tactile.
One young contemporary artist working out
of New Delhi is Vibhor Sogani. Vibhor who trained as a product designer from the
prestigious National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad is himself crossing
boundaries through design into art. His latest body of work titled God and
I is an exciting journey of this talented visual artist. Vibhor today is
difficult to pin down in a formalist definition. That he is a creator is
unchallenged.
Following Vibhor’s work for more than a
decade now, I feel that this innovative young artist is working in the same
trajectory which is rooted deeply in the very sophisticated yet complex
traditional Indian art practice. Yet his work has no direct references to Indian
craft or fine art traditions. His personal language is modern, his practice has
that international cosmopolitan flavour which is a natural corollary to the
material he is creating with ie Stainless Steel.
While stainless steel is gaining rapid
ground in contemporary societies in India and abroad with Frank O Gery taking
steel to new heights in architecture , Aneesh Kapoor taking stainless steel to
dizzy heights in art, Vibhor in India is taking stainless steel to inventive
heights in fine arts. The art objects coming out of his studio range from floor
based evocative structures , to elegant wall based works, to dynamic kinetic
installations.
Like a magician Vibhor has treated steel
with an alchemists mysterious touch. Uneven rough, matt, surfaces play with
satin and mirror finishes, leaving the viewer gasping with beauty. So clever is
the play with material that in My Neighbour Gulliver a strange
dizziness grips the viewer, seducing him/her to simply become one with the
material
It is in exploring the qualities of
stainless steel, and experimenting with the hardness and strength of steel that
Vibhor not only shows his understanding of the material but also pushes the
envelop of creativity.
God & I
becomes a sacred yet challenging journey for Vibhor. Sacred because of the
sanctitiy with which he approaches steel, and challenging because Vibhor is
creating a new domain for stainless steel out of its ‘use’ in architecture and
lifestyle. A designer who has in the last many years has won accolades for
creating some of the most inventive life style products and lights using
stainless steel as a medium in this show Vibhor moves seamlessly from a design
orientation to a pure fine art practice.
Through God and I
Vibhor plays not just with the title, but his own engagement with the bounty of
nature, with his inner and outer landscapes. As the works play with the inherent
characteristics of steel- the satin finish, the mirror finish and the raw and
rough finishes, the surfaces interplay dramatically, encapsulating the
reflections from the immediate environment, thus making the relationship between
the art, the artist and the viewer a reactive and proactive one.
The complex and unusual forms
emerge from his design practice, the finishes and patina again from his design
orientation, but the knitting together of techniques and concepts is placed
within the fine art domain.
His approach is very thought
provoking and he naturally communicates his ideas and expressions through the
medium of art installations.. Starting to work in steel, in the building up of
the show, Vibhor in many ways repositioned the material and catapulted steel to
another level, He has also experimented, explored, fused and combined other
materials like brass, copper, bronze and stone.
Almost two scores of art works
make the show God and I. And each art work is the beginning of yet
another work. These spectacular works can be placed within the homes, outdoor in
farmhouses, in the lobbies of hotels, even in intimate study rooms. Each piece
is well thought out, and it is in the placing of these pieces that the space and
the object enrich each other.
"If you have anything really
valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your
own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you
different from every other living creature."
Bruce Barton”
Dr.
Alka Pande
Curator
Spring 2008
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