Seeking Movement In Clay
When did the dancer discover a passion for clay?
AB: When I moved away from dance to clay, I was leaving behind 13 years of training in Bharatanatyam, a complex classical Indian form, and five years of experience performing as a professional dancer in a contemporary dance company. My body couldn’t keep up, and my mind was hungry to find another medium in which I felt I could exercise my creative faculties at large. Clay drew me to it; it was the medium that spoke to me.
After the initial rigorous apprenticeship on the kick wheel, I moved toward more sculptural work very early in my practice. It just felt like an extension of what I had learned through dance where I was so conscious of how shapes occupied the stage, what happened when bodies were grouped together, and how density and space interacted.
It was liberating to work with a material that was outside of my body. I could create any form, reshape it or break it without breaking any bones. It was also a moving experience to see the clay transition from a soft malleable material into something robustly solid. The slow, long, physically demanding process of wood firing fuelled my artistic curiosity.
What is your usual path from an idea to complete form?
AB: I see the work as I make it. Of course, I have inclinations and points of reference derived from various sources: something I read, something I observed in my travels. Words have always been important to me. Reading has always been, at least in part, a visual experience. Sometimes when I read I start to imagine shapes and forms. I note down the words that triggered a particular shape and often refer back to these notes. Sometimes those words become titles. Sometimes they inhabit the forms.
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A Legacy Continues
Leveraging the success of his family's export business, Naman Jain is focusing on creating a retail presence in India
Creating KAIRA
Long fascinated by Indian fabric, Nikita Gupta has launched an attractive line of contemporary apparel in traditional block prints
Stories faces tell
Aditya Narula dabbled in various vocations before he realized portraiture was the best way to express the fascinating complexities of the people he encountered along the way
time tested DESIGN
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DANGEROUSLY DELICATE
Kavya Potluri's attention to minute detail is what sets her intricate and unconventional jewelry apart
music as muse
A multidisplinary visual artist, Aaron Pinto, also known as Kidsquidy, has had an interesting journey that started with MTV and has him now working on everything from music videos to stage design
DEVELOPING A DISCOURSE
Documentary photographer Taha Ahmad believes his work has a greater purpose than merely being admired by a select audience for its esthetic value. It's when people are able to see the underside of society and understand the prevailing social injustice that the work tries to reveal that it is truly worthwhile.
Tiny little Stories
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The Richness Of Handmade
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The perfect balance
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