If you believeI lie wrapped in a heap of nothingnessUnsung, Unlit, UnheardTill the end of time.That’s Manav Gupta at his musing best. Forever challenging his comfort zone even in the physical world, Gupta has created another work of art to marvel at. Thousands of earthen lamps are placed inverted along several rows and chillums hang from the wall down the columns to create an illusion of the Ganga waterfront. When dusk falls and the area is lit up, one can almost hear the sound of the waves.Titled “Rain, the Ganga Waterfront Along The Time Machine” from the series “Excavation in Hymns of Clay”, the installation represents a waterfall wherein Gupta has used the Ganga, the revered river in India, as the idiom and earthen lamps and chillums as metaphors to draw home the point: “If you consider me sacred, I am pure, else mere water, it flows.” Gupta says it’s the maverick inside him that inspired the project. The installation is on view at the Plaza steps at the India Habitat Centre where people can engage with it, understand it and absorb its calm.The most striking thing about the installation is the optical illusion that Gupta has succeeded in creating with the earthen lamps and hanging chillums. The architectural engagement of the pottery with the walls where it is placed transforms the regular venue into a riparian landscape. “The architectural engagement of art with space and construction is something which is a matter of concern for me and is very important for art to belong there,” says Gupta. According to the artist, the earthen lamp and chillums have a negligible existence and are discarded once used, and so is the case with the Ganga and other natural resources that mankind uses and discards with alarming nonchalance. Not only do the lamps and chillums feed the need of metaphors but also provide the surface needed to portray a river without a shore, especially when placed inverted. “Also, it’s a poor potter’s produce which is quintessentially Indian and in terms of micro-finance situation, I am trying to rehabilitate them as I buy in huge numbers. It’s deeply satisfying,” shares Gupta.God lies in details and it holds true for Gupta’s huge art installation as well. As is the case with a real waterfront, ripples and waves are discernible even in the installation as the pottery has been placed smartly, densely at certain places to give the right effect. Alongside lie two potted plants, one barren and the other in bloom, to reflect on the power of water.The artist, who remembers the first box of crayons that he got at the age of one year, has experimented with almost all forms of media, ranging from installations to site-specific architectural spaces, the conceptual to multimedia, canvas to sculptures. All, however, are bound together by the constants of “light, color, spontaneity and nature,” he says.The mega mural of 10,000 sq. ft at the Airtel Centre, Delhi and the 20-feet high Bhutan friendship mural in the mountain country are some of the artist’s most acclaimed creations. “I haven’t followed the usual route in my art career,” says Gupta, who was a marketing professional with a multinational company before he turned to art completely. “And I am glad I didn’t take the usual route because it lead me to where I am today,” he adds. Born and brought up in Kolkata, Gupta joined the Academy of Fine Arts to pursue his interest during school and college, and he made his art, which then comprised only paintings, public with his first show in 1996 in the open space of the Birla Academy. Talking about his figurative milestones, Gupta says the moment when he could explore light and color in nature was the time when his “soul felt at peace”. It was fulfilling when people across the globe in the US, Europe and Asia could relate to his art and yet recognised it as Indian as well as contemporary.Nature has been his ultimate inspiration as one can see in his paintings and other works of art. He has learnt from his guru Vasant Pandit that nature is the soul of art. “For me, it’s the soul of everything,” he says. Gupta has been propagating the importance of environment since he began painting. “I even asked people to paint a sapling on canvas during one of my exhibitions.” All one needs to do is to remain conscious of the environment while doing what they are doing, he advocates.Public art projects are growing in the country in order to engage the common man with art and this has also been one of the motives of the artist. The Ganga Water Project is a step in that direction. “Everyone across the globe appreciates public art and we must pursue it as we enjoy a rich cultural rooting. The supposed common man understands art and we must not assume they won’t if exposed to it,” says Gupta.“Ganga Water Project Along The Time Machine” is on view at Plaza Steps, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi, till April 20Follow @ARTINFOIndia
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