Young artists and their influences

artists-in-Residency Suman Chandra, Sonali Laha and Rutvik Mehta talk about their style of working and experiences with art

Kalakriti Art Gallery recently presented the talk and presentation by artists-in-Residency, Suman Chandra, Sonali Laha and Rutvik Mehta.

Suman Chandra is from Tamluk, West Bengal and has completed his MFA from Viswa Bharti University. As early as from the beginning of his undergraduate course, he has been interested in site-specific works. "Upon my first visit to any site, my primary objective remains to document the site through drawings, recognising what bear its unique identities.

Next, I try to collect official documents on it, grasp the relationships that humans have with that site, find out materials that can represent the site through their innate quality, participate in the daily lifestyle etc. After that, I select a particular point of interest in it and zoom in on that. While doing so, I like to choose space specific materials and if possible, try to use them as medium."

He adds, "As an artist, my observations and their executions can be described as objective and bordering on documentation. Throughout my master's course till now, I am working on the experiences of my visits to the various coal mines situated in the West Bengal-Jharkhand border. Coal mines took my interest because of my father's business of coal dealership."

West Bengal based Sonali Laha did graduation from S.N School of Fine Arts, Central University of Hyderabad. Her work primarily deals with body, space and the concept of soul. "Through my working process I try to investigate the journey of how body, soul, and space react to various situations in course time. I always try to manifest my strong feelings and experiences through my works. Intimate memories have a crucial influence in my works."

"We live in a time where people are so focused on decreasing our dependency on and attachment to the human body. We are almost living with virtual reality. We do not have time to connect our mind and body. Now it is very hard to deal with physical and mental decay. Here I am trying to focus on the situation were a body can connect with mind and reach to a different inner world, were we are free from this virtual world," she adds.

Another artist Rutvik Mehta works on the daily life theme, majorly from his surroundings. He says, "Always surrounded by domesticated animals, my works are heavily influenced by their very presence in the fields that I have lived in. Growing up in the remote interiors situated near gir forest in Gujarat, I have always been in the lap of nature and in close proximity with animal, as well as the forest's vegetation. with such environs, it was only logical for my work to feature this aspect of my life."

Works of the three young artists are on display at the gallery.

By Kalakriti