Found poetry is not a new concept, yet to me the idea of bringing a verbal sentiment into my normally purely
visual narrative has been a creatively enriching journey.
I fell in love with Shakespeare, and poetry and possible even with love itself at the age of 15. I still remember the lines "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind” from Act 1 scene 1 of a ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – and with it began what was to become an exploration that spanned the next 2 decades and continues still.
With the current collection entitled "A Kiss in Time" I'm exploring the Renaissance concepts of romance and love, often unrequited within the context of the 21st Century. Does Shakespearean poetry fit into the 21st century mental construct of love and desire?
In the conceptual art space In India, there has been an explosion of art that depicts femininity under attack due to recent socio cultural contexts. There are boundaries being drawn around gender that only seem to polarize conflict rather than setting contexts that can bring people together. In a time when sexual interaction is of primary importance does poetry and old world romance still hold an appeal?
My primary medium of expression has been visual, as a painter, yet my love for literature has always left me in awe of the power or the written word. I found myself starting to blur the boundaries between the two. Forcing myself to express through writing and then adding a visual language. By breaking out of my former medium and exploring another outlet for creativity I've evolved as an artist.
I love old books, the tactile sensation of paper. The smell the energy of its former owners, what stories lie beyond text? In a time of kindle, the value of holding a book in your hand is forgotten. Through the art, the books live on in a new avatar, and I'm enriched as a person for having experienced that exchange and re birth of energy.
“A Kiss In Time” blurs boundaries of art, literature, print and digital media, old world romance and modern day gratification.
It is an alchemical process that takes together different energies, straddles time to create a richer, golden, whole.
