Life with all its mystery and apparent chaos plays out in Akash Choyal's art work, collectively titled “The Muse”, on view at Crimson. The exhibition features his innovative work in 3-D and fibreglass.
Akash is probably one of the first artists in India to have brought out 3-D paintings that resemble holograms. His imagery is fantastical and surreal, whether in 3-D or in fibreglass.
Called ‘triographs', these 3-D paintings have a sense of dream-like movement. “There is no particular theme as such; all my works are a mixture of fun and philosophy. The imagery in my triographs conveys a metamorphic transformation. A man could be riding a horse one moment and an elephant the other. It's almost like an Alice in Wonderland in itself.”
Poetic and mysterious
For instance, a key with hands sprouting occupies one side of “Race of the Key”. On the other side, there are runners whose number and position change according to the viewer's perspective. “The key is a mysterious multi-dimensional symbol, whose indication here is poetic as well as mysterious. The beauty in art is that the meaning is not dominant over the imagery and the imagery itself is an experience that draws on the senses,” explains Akash.
His experience of combining technology and art in the triographs was not an easy one. “Triographs are 90 per cent technical. First the drawings are applied in several layers in 3-D software, then the patterns are printed and finally a sheet acting like a lens produces the 3-D effect. The graphics are printed on photographic prints.”
His fibreglass works are equally intriguing. Here, Akash has drawn shapes in black on the white moulds using intricate wire brushes made of squirrel hair. Each of the sculptures seem as though they are episodes from a surreal cartoon.
“There are two processes in my fibreglass works — structuring and drawing. I first structure the moulds, giving them an abstract treatment, and then I apply my drawings on them. The drawings are all dream-related and fantastical. Whether I have drawn an object or a living being, they all appear full of life.” He finds himself so fascinated by 3-D that there is always an element of it in all his works.
These drawings are never pre-planned. “I actually take my mind to a dream-like state and let my hand move of its own accord. The drawings just emerge from there and connect.” Though his works are technically inspired by miniatures, in their fine lines and their execution, the themes are stylised contemporary, feels Akash.
He first makes his fibreglass structures in clay before moulding them in plaster and finally, fibre. He finds the basic artistic process of creating shapes pleasurable.
“I feel that there should be freedom in the understanding of art. People give more importance to skill than creativity. Skill is important and so is the natural, child-like creativity. Craft is important for art, but art itself is beyond craft and is limitless. I feel that schools these days are suppressing this creative instinct in children.”
“The Muse” will be on display at Crimson, The Hatworks Boulevard, 32, Cunningham Road until January 7. Call 22342634.
