“This is an art work made with stolen car lights found in the old Delhi grey market,” says artist, writer and researcher Vaishnavi Ramanathan, pointing at an installation just above a café outlet inside Phoenix MarketCity. The lights and windscreen wipers are arranged to form a Khatmal (bedbug), as the title of the work is called. The installation by Vishal Dhar is just one of the many that dot the corridors and walls of the mall. “Just the fact that you know the story behind the artwork, changes the way you look at it, doesn’t it?” she asks the group of young art students and art enthusiasts, who have gathered for the first edition of the art tour — an initiative by the mall in collaboration with Ashvita — which aims to throw light on the artworks housed in the mall.
While shoppers busy themselves walking in and out of outlets, armed with a bunch of shopping bags, the group takes a slow walk along the corridors, stopping at each of the nine installations and sculptures, that unfortunately remain unnoticed by most shoppers — like the two giant black bulbs by Sunil Gawde, which hang from the ceiling right at the reception area. The bulbs, which are made of fibre glass and covered with gloss lacquer, “are an attempt at urging people to look inwards. The black bulb, unlike the conventional ones, doesn’t give out light, but instead, grabs light in”. The Steps of Predicament by Gigi Scaria, a spiral staircase made out of aluminium fabricated sheet and mirror glass, depicts an endless climb by people to reach the pinnacle of a social hierarchy.
A relatively new addition is a carved wood sculpture of Mumbai’s Victoria Terminus installed at a 30-degree angle, by senior artist TV Santhosh. Another sculpture, by an equally important artist, Ravinder Reddy, is Head — an intricate and ornate head of a South Indian woman made out of gilded polyester resin and fibre glass. This is probably the most expensive one — close to ₹1 lakh — at the mall, says Ramanathan. The set-up of art pieces inside the mall is an initiative of Art C, a non-profit organisation, which aims to provide an alternative space that presents contemporary art to new audiences.
- Anjum Singh’s Cola Blooms: Made with cast fibreglass that looks like cola bottles, the installation is a reminder for us to protect the environment through recycling.
- Arunkumar HG’s Painted Plates: Uses 228 plates, and is a reflection of the disconnect between production, consumption and discard in society.
- LN Tallur’s Juggernaut 2: Made using bronze, iron, cement, silicon and cow dung. It is a fusion of traditional (representative of Jagannath Ratha Yatra held in Orissa) and contemporary designs and techniques.
- Thukral and Tagra’s Apocalytron: Made with cast-resin bottles modelled after those found in supermarkets. It is reminiscent of a massive bot from the Transformers movie, and almost stands as a warning against the accelerated growth of consumerism.
