Art has invaded every facet of Joyston Christopher Vaz’s life.
JC, 33, is a professional artist — an analogue earth child, yet far into the future when it comes to using his skills towards sustainable solutions.
The Veil
Simply put, he’s great at repurposing what would be commonly considered ‘junk’.
The joy of the process is his primal calling, be it an installation, or the canvas.
It’s the magic of applying old methods, and stumbling on new ones.
“I’ve taken it upon myself to try to change the way people perceive artists. That is my responsibility to my craft,” says JC, opening up a box filled with everything we usually throw away, but in multiples of hundreds and stored in an orderly fashion.
Rivets, feathers, and tattoo needles, all find their way into his installations. It’s unorthodox for a magician to share his secrets, yet his ego-free spirit joyfully passes on the knowledge of his latest experiments.
The Wound
He has worked on art direction, makeup, and has commissioned art for spaces such as The Grid, and even on the aeroplanes in Hindustan College.
“The creator must never shun a creation, even if it appears a reject,” says JC, showing me his body of work titled ‘Metamorphic Errors’.
He explores possibilities of stories on old sheets of hoarded paper, ones with the residual paint spills and splatters. The collection is an evolutionary work inspired by the initial blotch, or splatter.
‘The Wound’ is a steampunk illustration made over stains of his blood, and the coffee powder he used to clot his wound, at the time of the accident. It is no mystery that he wouldn’t want to waste that eureka moment.
Two parts of one
He concludes by saying, “We are a flawed species; it is but error that makes us beautiful.”
Check out his work on Instagram: @joystonvaz
