“I put all my feelings into my work,” says Bengaluru-based sculptor Aarti Gupta Bhadauria, who recently held a solo exhibition of her terracotta sculptures at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. This recently concluded show, titled Waves of Feelings, was curated by Isha Phillips and Sarbani Chatterjee.
From ‘Waves of Attraction’, a complex, fluid network of crests and troughs to ‘Reflection of Thoughts’, which resembles a womb, and ‘Wave of Blossom’, a gently blooming rose, every sculpture that is part of this exhibition comes from a deep well of emotion. “I am an emotional person, and I feel waves of it in my heart,” says Aarti. “This is my soul,” says the artist, who grew up in Gwalior and holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a specialization in sculpture.
Aarti says she has always wanted to be different. It is why she chooses to mould her sculptures out of clay, using only a wire cutter. Talking about what draws her to clay, she says, “If you make something out of fibre or metal, you need a mould. I don’t like being restricted by that.”
Instead, she creates aerial, handmade sculptures made without armature, an aesthetic honed over nearly 20 years, since she began back in 2004. “I chose this material because it is an ancient one and no one promotes it, “she says, pointing out that clay is often restricted to pottery or folk art. “It takes me six months to make every piece,” says Aarti, who moved to Bengaluru in 2009, after her marriage.
Holding out her mobile phone, she flips to her Instagram account to show what she is currently working on; another wave-based sculpture titled ‘Wave of Impermanence’. “I am not sure what it will become,” says Aarti, who has exhibited both in India and the U.S., winning both national and international awards for her artwork. “I will know only when I finish,” says Aarti, claiming that she prefers to let the clay guide her. “I go with the flow,” she adds.
