Ceramist Rahul Kumar’s set up in his new present is a deviation from his earlier experiments with clay

The great thing about ceramic artist Rahul Kumar’s recent off-the-wheel art work, on show at New Delhi’s gallery exhibition 360, lies in expressing the obscure with unique abstraction. Her 10th solo exhibition of ceramics, someplace untold lives, a maze of emotional, literal and figurative expressions meant to “protect the omitted and talk the unsaid”. He says, “Is it not true {that a} sung track or an unposted letter lives someplace? Typically hidden behind our bookshelves and sometimes deep inside our recollections? to attach with — to ask ourselves what it means to assemble the damaged, to be introverted, or to collect the items — actually and figuratively.

A educated studio potter, Rahul is making a acutely aware effort to deviate from his previous experiments with clay. Her focus has now shifted from molding the proper pottery to conveying a sculpted narrative with textured wall mounts, bins and installations. “I started to make my mark by remodeling absolutely fashioned pot types. My Masters which I earned on a Fulbright Scholarship outfitted me to make use of the medium to specific myself. I’ve performed with scale up to now: created small-sized works and large-scale installations. I’ve used shade and glitter extensively. With time, I began utilizing clay and all its tedious processes as my solely software. What I do now All the pieces I do has storytelling at its core,” he shares.

Rahul believes that every one good artwork rests on a stable basis of workmanship. However the earlier craft and aesthetics assumed extra significance in his creations. “Now, it’s extra essential to specific my views. Additionally, I used to be extra fascinated about creating an expertise within the present reasonably than simply displaying objects.”

The exhibition, curated by Rubina Karode and designed by Prima Kurian, showcases over 58 artworks together with 4 installations. In her essay describing Rahul’s works, Rubina writes: “His use of gibberish texts or letters/characters that soften and shatter is a deliberate try and trespass on the act of legibility and arrive at an incomprehensible script . For the artist, the necessity is felt to enter the realm of the ‘unspeakable’.

Textual expression pervades Rahul’s work by way of his journalistic journey of 5 years. He elaborates: “In my position as a journalist there isn’t any room for the anomaly of the written phrase. Subconsciously, the teachings seeped into my artwork as properly. However this time free from any implied which means. And this concept matches properly with my seek for the untold. There are two collection which are reference texts – I Have a Secret to Inform and Pages from My Diary. ,

The set up, Matrix, within the ongoing exhibition, finds its roots in an experimental work carried out in 2013/14. Among the many most placing components within the exhibition are the bits and items, generally organized in bins with tattered letters or damaged sticks in a mesh-like construction.

“I used to be finishing a piece by reducing a slab of clay. The remaining ‘detrimental’ items seemed like a overseas script. It caught my consideration and I puzzled what it was attempting to say. From which an entire collection was fashioned. Equally, a 2012 present by a up to date artist the place he used squishy metallic utensils stayed in my thoughts as a scene, then revisited my 2015 experiment in an introverted area for The Matrix. For squeezing freshly made utensils. Clay on paper I feel is a singular use of the medium within the age from my diary,” he describes.

With regards to inserting ceramic artwork within the wider ambit of economic artwork, Rahul feels that potters are rather more devoted to their craft. “This isn’t an issue in itself, however it’s futile to count on the ‘modern artwork world’ to undertake these as artworks. The medium by no means defines artwork. It’s the intention with which it’s used. that determines the place it must be categorised,” he indicators off.

someplace untold lives The exhibit is on view till April 28 at 320. Admission is free.