Melange of mediums: Sculpture Park in Jaipur brings a motley mix of artists and materials

Monica Arora

The Sculpture Park is back with its fourth edition at the scenic Madhavendra Palace housed within the Nahargarh Fort at Jaipur. The meandering road that goes up the hillock to the fort sets the tone for a one-of-its-kind experience of viewing art and sculpture amid a historic background. The Saat Saath Arts Foundation has collaborated with the Government of Rajasthan and the curation is by Peter Nagy. The participating artists include Riyas Komu, Avantika Bawa, Sudipta Das, Megha Joshi, Nandan Ghiya, Bhuvanesh Gowda, Murari Jha, Vineet Kacker and Suhasini Kejriwal from India and two international artists: Alicja Kwade from Germany and Martha-Marie le Bars from France.

It’s a motley mix of artists showcasing three-dimensional works in a variety of mediums, materials, themes and crafting a narrative that veers away from the conventional and ventures towards a fresh outlook.

Multimedia artist Riyas Komu’s work, ‘Ballad of the Distracted vs Cult of the Dead and Memory Loss’, perplexes and awes with an interesting usage of materials like burlap sacks, wood, metal, plastic and rubber, and even a car engine. This work is a testimony to his struggling days spent in the slums of Borivali, Mumbai, as a young migrant from Kerala. It’s almost as if anything and everything finds usage in the lives of the marginalised which resemble an unfathomable mishmash put together by bits and pieces of scrap and waste.

Jaipur-born artist Nandan Ghiya explores mixed media in his new three-dimensional works that deploy recycled furniture and other elements from the local Rajasthani architecture. “My works are about finding harmonious ways to navigate through the uncertain future poised by various extremities and dichotomies of our time. On one hand is timeless heritage and then there is its relentless social media manipulation/exploitation,” says Ghiya.

Artist Avantika Bawa has created an installation called ‘A Pink Scaffold in the Pink City’, which, she says, is “a continuation of The Scaffold Series that began in 2012”. In this iteration, clusters of dominantly pink scaffolds, with hints of turquoise, are arranged on the top level of Nahargarh Fort; these are also visible from the terrace.

“The scaffolds, with their dominant vertical and horizontal lines, create frames that draw attention to the architecture of the fort as well as the cityscape around. Painted construction scaffolds exude sheer geometrical elegance within the architectural space, revealing the temporal beauty of their ubiquitous and utilitarian sculpture material. The scaffold is compelling not only as a form, but also as a metaphor. It is strong and solid, yet porous; it is a bridge from one state to another. It spans, connects and supports, then vanishes,” says the artist.

Megha Joshi’s composition — an amalgam of incense sticks — has used a vivid array of colours reminiscent of underwater flora. Says Joshi, “The most exciting aspect of creating an installation at the Madhavendra Palace is the sense of standing on a bridge between history, heritage and very contemporary narratives. Making the installation ‘talk’ with the yellow frescoed walls and then seeing the surprise and curiosity of the public at thousands of incense sticks in the chambers has been gratifying.”

Peter Nagy, curator of the current edition of Sculpture Park, explains his thoughts behind his selection of works. “I never have a particular theme when curating the works to be seen at the Sculpture Park. I am always looking for works that can be in conversation with the very complicated paintings that cover the walls of the interior apartments. This leads to works that are usually quite maximal in their aesthetics or flirt with the decorative arts in some way.”

The show is on till December 1.

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