Alex Davis is a quiet man. He talks so softly as if concerned that the words don't get hurt in the process. He works quietly too. An alumnus of National Institute of Design, Alex has discreetly made his way up in the field of interior design and accessories and in the last few years has branched out to art integrating his knowledge of design. In this quietude, we know, he is relishing the fine luxuries of life – art and design but that food is yet another passion, becomes known to us only when the versatile Alex has a meal with us at Café Zaffiro in Zamrudpur, GK-1.
As Alex digs into the first offering at the Café, pita bread with hummus, he reveals the latest job at hand, “Dilli Bagh Project”. Presented at the recently held Congress on Urban Green Spaces, in Delhi, he informs us that the project is under consideration with some issues like irrigation or whether to use actual plants being sorted out. “I have lived longest in Delhi. I feel it's like a large farmland with huge spaces and greens. Researching its past, I realise, history of gardens and Delhi go hand in hand,” says Alex adding how the city at point of time had some of the most celebrated char baghs and gardens like Begum Bagh, Tees Hazari Bagh, Mehtab Bagh, Hayat Bakshi Bagh and Roshanara Bagh. “The best living char bagh is the Humayun Tomb's one,” he opines.
The sepia toned images of Delhi of yore displayed are a perfect foil for the conversation which oscillates between Alex's various preoccupations in life. A foodie, he was always, Alex says, he began to see cooking as an art after he lived in Paris and Milan, where he learnt the nuances of Italian cuisine. “Most of the food is pre-done so it really depends on the quality of ingredients and their freshness level,” says Alex. Here too, pita bread scores because of its freshness while hummus, he says has a lot of nice flavours.
Alex feels that his work will be a continuation of the same story authored several centuries ago by Mughal emperors when establishing Delhi as their Capital and later by Herbert Baker and Edward Lutyens, who planned the city. Alex, proposes to install gateway at the entry points of the five national highways or five exit or entry points into the Capital like Shimla Gate, Rohtak Gate, Jaipur, Agra and Meerut Gate. The installations seek to define these entrances to the city. For the 75 metre high installation, Alex has again referred to history and used Ashoka trees, a motif commonly used in Mughal miniatures. With 25 floors, it is also a reference to Qutub Minar. “May be we could build a Dilli Haat complex there housing nurseries and garden related shops,” says Alex, who also runs a product store in the city called Indi Store.
The cheese spinach crepe also earns the approval of the discerning foodie. “They are very soft. Crepes are like masala dosa for me which are available in so many versions like prawn dosa, neer dosa. So crepes, which originated in the Brittany region of France also differ from region to region.”
Scale is crucial to his scheme of things particularly art and here too, the designer-cum-artist will be seen playing with scale for that, he says will attract the attention of anybody passing by.
While he agrees that Delhi lacks in public art but in the last couple of years with public art projects, several residencies themed around the genre, the scene look promising. “An artist in any case can't keep away from the city. He in any which way, engages with it.”
A designer by training, he says his foray into art was a natural progression. He says, he was always straying around and even though he functions as both, Alex on a deeper level is engaged with his artistic endeavours. In his many solos the pieces displayed indeed borrow from design principles but the non-functional pieces are equally rooted in immediate surroundings which is essential to an art work. The robust club sandwich with bacon, lettuce, tomatoes impresses him but not as much as Arabian honey and nut cake. “Ultimately food is about consciousness,” notes the artist.
