Nilanjana Nandy

With the belief that a work of art is a living entity both for the creator and the viewer, I create work which reflects life, growth and is testimonial to the times in which it has been produced. A brief background of various influences and my area of interest that are instrumental in shaping my trajectory are as follows: The age which we have entered cannot be labeled under any specific heading such as heroic, scientific, philosophical, moral, ethical, technological or mechanical. Within such an atmosphere, what constitutes my external realm is the heterogeneous structure of a metropolitan. With rapid technological, economic, social and political changes existence is becoming complex and materialistic. This visual state imposed by the urban dwelling provides me with the visual sea of objects/gadgets/artifacts whether functional, luxurious, and related-unrelated. While modernity was centered on production of things, post- modern life is probably about proliferation of these productions. These have become the pivot which is around me, surrounding me and submerging me that push me to depict the nuances of a life infested with objects. Objects like the pliers, cup, hooks, tweezers, become the body and go through the vagaries of existence. They even fall in love and get accessorized (The wishful garb; Accessorized self; Self & they). The way these hybrid objects are rendered, it makes them surreal. They start behaving like an icon or an entity in their own right conveying feelings in a clinical or detached manner. However, they are capable of inflicting vast disturbances such as pain (The New Age Pistil), irony and a sense of despair. No matter how mundane is the premise of these objects depending on their utilitarian value, under my artistic scalp I want them to attain the different hues of existence- surrealistic, political, social, humorous, romantic etc to name a few. Another important aspect of my work is the use of written words-sometimes in the form of a scribble (If I am Happy & I know it, must you know too?), sometimes text commonly and universally used (The wishful garb; If I am Happy & I know it, must you know too? Self & they). When read in particular context they generate a meaning and direction. These meanings and directions then percolate and bleed into other realms of life both internal and external within my pictorial space. Structurally, presently my work is confined to 2-dimensional surface, essentially mixed media on paper. Some of them are collages with drawings. Experimenting with their scale or materiality or by use of found objects in a particular context; Playing with their depiction as ?a protagonist? going through the vagaries of human existence; I try to portray these objects living in a state of flux between the mundane world and the intricate world of art . With found papers, objects & surfaces, collages of my own sketches, I have tries to create a series of mixed media drawings where the play of and inter weaving of distinct surfaces into a coherent whole will create a visually enticing & conceptually moving expression.. Structurally I have been mostly working on smaller units creating a larger whole (All my compositions have many pieces composed together into vertical /horizontal arrangements). I further intend to push these smaller pieces into more dynamic units by composing many of them into irregular constructions forming 3-dimensional drawings. Though drawings, they need not remain confined to the walls and can become more interactive. Conceptually my artistic endeavor involves the study of the connection between human life and the vast sea of objects created by humans. An in depth study will be done/conducted to cognize the two unrelated aspects, that is the humane and the materialistic; connection between the two completely distinct but increasing interdependent and continuously overlapping traits of existence and the narrative gravity produced by such a hideous mix of the two.?