Praying Mantis

 

This is a hybrid between a human and an insect, and also a pun on the word preying because the praying mantis is a predatory insect, though it appears to be praying. This work has several parts to it, which need to be assembled. Like the dragon copter and the octopus sculptures, the parts are not joined.

 

Cloud Number 9

 

Useless Objects

 I created a few objects that have lost their functionality.

Hair on Soap

Slippers with thorns

                                                           Cactus on chair

Cutting Ties

Most of these works are separate parts that need to be assembled / put together making them movable and playful 

Edited Artist Statement

 I am a visual storyteller, and my stories emerge from existing stories I reinterpret, stories I might have overheard in passing, or half-remembered stories from my childhood experiences. Drawing is an important part of my practice. I begin by observing commonplace, everyday objects that are usually overlooked but essential to daily life and drawing them in pen and ink.  These objects are not inherently special or extraordinary, but rather represent the ordinary and routine aspects of existence. These objects represent our time on this planet. Everyday objects will become historical artefacts that reflect our culture, technology, and daily life. Future archaeologists might study these objects to understand our society, just as we analyse artefacts from the past. I document these objects in illustrative forms, resembling 2D drawings rendered in clay. 

I let some of these objects challenge rational thought and carry me to seemingly unconnected realities. I tend to place them in surrealist settings in the spirit of Lautreamont's famous metaphor, "beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella." I take these everyday objects and playfully alter them to generate bizarre juxtapositions that subtly prompt the viewer to question their own eyes or, at the very least, shift perspective. I ask myself, "What if these objects had their own minds? What if they weren't only passive observers but active participants , sentient beings with agency? What if they were given the power to be something more?" I then transform these man-made objects into living, breathing hybrid creatures by fusing parts of them with elements from the natural world. I believe the boundaries that seperate the non-living things and the human realm are porous allowing free movement between the two. Drawing inspiration from stories, proverbs, and idioms, I redeem the object from mundane to extraordinary. 

Collection of Objects coming together

Planning to add 3 more sculptures and then close it here and start on a new series of coloured pieces which will be more playful.

The pieces I plan to add to the black and white illustration series are Table Lamp, Flower Vase and "Cutting Ties". I will begin the new series in August.

 

Feedback from Neha

 Object installation

•Surreal style, drawing inspiration from dream life rather than deep

meanings.

• Not all objects will be surreal to avoid overwhelm in audience.

• Are objects are intended as an installation or individual pieces?

• In an installation the objects may have changing relationships and

changing meaning, but that the objects are related to each other is fixed.

Surrealism and your objects

• Consider not constructing objects to be absurd, but allow them to

become absurd through chance, and encounter with other objects and

stories.

• Freedom to not be restricted by material.

• Consider the story as a "ready made," like an object. Considered

borrowed phrases as readymades

• The story changes because of the object it's situated within or alongside.

• Don't worry about the audience; let them do the work of engaging with

your work.

• The audience brings their own understanding to the work.

• Challenge the audience's presumptions and understanding of

relationships between words and objects.

• Don't spoon-feed the audience; let them question their presumptions.

• What do you want when you want strangeness? What are you looking to

do or undo: for eg. Merete Oppenheim, Dali were looking to upend

notions of function, Duchamp challenged notions of art and authorship

with the fountain.

• Do your dreamlike scenarios tap into your subconscious or the

subconscious of society? Do you want it to?

• What does impossible things constitute in today’s socio-political

climate? cauliflower clouds versus mushroom clouds. I acknowledge

your work isn't overtly political but there’s room to include subtle hints

to geopolitical issues - that is what stories are about?

• Formal vs conceptual exercise. Identify if the lizard’s tail is a formal or

conceptual intervention with the telephone. Could you consider

exploring the connection between objects, like a telephone and its cord,

and think about what carries things from one place to another (e.g.,

intestines, roadways, courier systems).

• Reflecting, remembering stories, and reading to gather material instead

of immediately creating images. Use this reflections and notes as

tangible objects on the desk to create connections and build new stories

or mythologies.

• The strength of your work lies in its non-realistic, illustrative and

anatomically incorrect nature. Can you use the informality to create the

bizarre.

• Exploring various ideas and observing how the object changes with each

idea. For example, using a telephone with different attachments like a

lizard, intestines, or something that prevents picking up the receiver. Or

using the museum object vase with different handle forms to make new

mythologies

Object Stories in Installations

• Every object in an installation, regardless of its simplicity, contributes to

the overall story and has its own backstory.

• For example in the Mahabharata, or in Shakespeare's plays even minor

characters have significant backstories.

• Explore backstories of each object in depth.

• Being mindful of and allowing interesting things to emerge rather than

trying to force them, could lead to breakthroughs in the creative process.

• Trust that the audience brings their own stories and understandings to the

artwork, allowing for reconfiguration of ideas

Feedback on Artist Statement

• artist statement is very well-written.

• everyday objects in illustrative form placed in surrealistic settings.

• Could you include drawing as an important part of the practice.

• emphasize on the idea of being a stories teller. How are stories

important.

Looking at the work of Adrian Arleo, Katie McDowell

• The realism in Adrian Arleo’s work is what makes the absurd elements

stand out, prompting viewers to question the nature of the objects.

Adrian Areleo makes the oneness of human beings with nature very

literal, prompting questions about the body and its connection to the

world.

• In Katie MacDowell’s work the human element feels more like a site or

location rather than something with agency. Work feels like specimens

or dissections

• Your work looks at the continuity between human and non-human

organisms, as well as living and non-living beings. (Porosity + objects

and sentience)