Color studies : in brown and blue.

Launching a  line of art work  ( photo +) that deals with layers of materials and techniques,   has done a few things to me and the way I  approach my photography. It forces me to think accross disciplines. For the first time the image is also a starting point for a larger story. I am learning to see things accros a broad spectrum of things without compartmentalising. 

Images objects and stories come together to make a memory.

In 2008, I curated a small object based exhibition that appropriated household objects from expat Indian homes based in Hongkong ( pictured below). 

The experience of working with a large number of migrant  families and their stories of movement, dislocation and nesting in a foreign country was eye opening. The power of the domestic space in defining identity and  the immediacy of a possesion however small was a revelation.  My fetish for objects and material goes farther back, but this small exhibition encouraged it tremendously.

There was an intense desire on my part at that stage to work with objects and possessions. I started collecting  materials. Letters, postcards, photographs and the like.  

With Photo plus that desire to curate across media has gradually taken shape. There is a long way to go yet.

Late last year it struck me to apply a simlar approach to the blog. Talking homes, decor, interiors and lives still,  yet in different ways and definitely with more engagement with the subject.

I have made small beginings already. Today's post is yet another effort in more involved blogging. 

A series of posts will follow suit.

Today, I pick a color based modboard  for browns and blues. 

A combination of the contrasting elements of the earth and sky creates unearthly poetry..It's chic, contemporary and timeless, all at the same time. Here is a little brown and blue from  all over, other  homes, closets, the Photo+ work table, some of my photography and my own home.

Will come back with more since there is a lot more to say, until then I hope this make sense...

   

Photo credit : Pinterest. Among a lot of  wonderful oriental and Cuban interiors is also an outfit from my favourite designers, Payal Khandwala's previous collections.  A big fan of her fantastic sense of color and a very boho take on cuts and styles. 

A mood board created with an assemblage of color based objects, illustrations and photographs  from my studio and home.

Details from the mood board..

An Arastan shop in shop at Goodearth, Raghuvanshi Mills.

Arastan. The Bangalore base home and artefact label is unfortunately closing down soon. [A post about them was among a long list of to do's which never got done for one reason or the other unfortunately.]

One of Jodhpur's many blue houses. The  old quarter of the city is a symphony of blue and earth. Check out a more detailed post here.

When the dining table is off duty.

Browns and Indigo in the bedroom, plus and minus orange and rust as accent colors.

Hand built pottery in the kitchen.

Photography from Jodhpur livens up a mostly earth canvas of objects.

Finally a few images of a silk cushion I hand embroidered a while back from the archives..

Metamorphosis

A change of season. Winter fading to spring.  Change of light, change of shadow.  Leaves sprout, buds bloom, winged birds leave and others start to sing tremulous sweet songs of longing and the coming of summer. But before all that there was a driveway flush with colour. Sweet almond trees aflame and the wait for holi and its myriad colours. Had taken a break for  a bit.. emerging now. Like slow shedding of skin and gradual unfolding of a bud, a little new, freshly moulted a little wet, a little wary but hopeful.
Spring is about fresh beginnings and changing light and colour.
Amen to that.

1,2,3

Three uses for a quirky object. Picked up a pair of iron stirrups from a flea market in Lhasa a few years back. Although I had no idea about how I will use them, their texture and shape caught my fancy.

After lying around unused for some time, the stirrups have been hung on a mango-wood hook by a bay window. Posting pictures of three different ways I use them.

To hold pots of miniature plants or creepers some times.

To hold flowers every now and then.

even tea lights some evenings.

Which use do you like the most? What else can one do with these?

Tagged

I have been tagged... Its been a month since blogger buddies, Dithi and  Jagriti  urged me to put down six things about me  before I could pass on the pickle to another six people.

Although it sounds easy, I have taken my time with this one. If  there are only six things to say, like only six things mattered, what would one say and what would one leave out? 

Instead of spending too much time procrastinating about what it will be and why, I'll post pictures of six things I made at pottery class a few years ago.

What is important about these six things is  that they are really bad, quite the opposite of the magnificent artistic game plan with which I approached them. Please understand that these misadventures in amateurish shapes and awful glazes are more about the love than success.

Despite my perseverance and complete dedication, I never graduated beyond hand-building. The few sessions I spent in the studio were usually a complete waste of time, but how I enjoyed myself!

Beating mounds of hardened clay down to smooth malleability, the squish and slurp of slurry.. the hours of contemplating singular shapes, the intense meditation it is possible to achieve and the labour of it all.. Sometimes after the class, the only thing that would bring me back from the pure state of zen I'd achieve in the preceding two hours was the sight of the monstrosity staring back at me from the work table.

So it is with a lot of courage and apprehension that I will unveil if only for the sake of the tag, six terrifying signs of a failed potter... again and again,  you are urged to look on only at the love. 

Now for the six people who I am going to pass the tag on to,

Priya from tHe pluM tRee

Prashant from Chai ki dukan  

Shireena from Masala Chai 

Vineeta from Artnlight  

Ashwiny from the window seat design 

and

Rachel from buttons magee 

Rules

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

There guys, happy tagging and happier blogging.

1,2,3

Posting a few pictures of a quirky little stand I found a few days ago.

A carved handle attached to a tiny wooden rectangular stand, which has a tiny little drawer at the side. It is hard to say how old it is or what purpose it might have served.

For now it is happily lending itself to different uses around the house, mostly ornamental.

To house a single stem here.

towels and little things in the bathroom.

Or simply a tea-light sometimes.....

Cat Street

 Uploading a few shots from an aimless tread around Upper Lascar row, or`Cat Street Bazaar' a few days ago.

In the true style of flea markets, although mostly situated astride a single street, this one is dishevelled, aging and full of odd things.

I  start  somewhere at the end of Hollywood road. Walk past old antique shops, cafes, and swanky new service apartments. A little near Man Mo temple, a narrow alley beckons me,  I walk in, contemplating the graffiti on a crumbling plaster wall. Behind a row of glitzy stores and cafes, the alley is cool and deserted. A blast of hot dog smoke blasts from the back of a charred makeshift chimney. The smell lingers only moments before the rancid smoke bearing it raises to the heavens.  At the far end of the street disembodied Buddhas sit chained to rusted iron stands. A plastic sheeted Vishnu waits patiently for a buyer. 

A nose-less ear-less wooden horse,  keeps the Gods quite company beside a reeking yet ever flowing drain.

Endless, unfathomable fascination with graves, foot binding shoes, spittoons and Chairman Mao draws folk down to Cat Street. Queer looking utensils, wine holders and chamber pots sit beside each other with new found dignity on dusty shelves. Their vendor swats mosquitoes with practiced flair, incinerating fidgety creatures with a battery run, racket like contraption.

 An old lady, strings of coral and turquoise in hands haggles with shoppers. 

Cat street is awash with objects, things old and new. Piled in mounds at every corner, pillaged from graves, dead people's homes, garbage dumps, flea markets, and dingy Chinese factories that churn out souvenirs in bulk by the hour.

Even with a surfeit of things around, more arrives here each day. More is created here, in this quite, old span of a few meters, way smaller than its former self, or so I am told.

In red and black

Detail of a Chinese lacquer table 

Of the enduring craft traditions of south East Asia, Lacquer ware is most certainly my favorite. Its production is said to predate written history. In China excavations have unearthed lacquer bowls dating back to the Neolithic period.  In Japan, lacquer coated eating vessels were popular much before the introduction of ceramic tableware. Today, the tradition continues to flourish in idiosyncratic styles and methods throughout Asia. 

The naturally occurring plastic obtained from the lacquer tree (Rhus Vernicifula) native to Central and Southern China was the authentic raw material of choice to coat every day objects with glossy, richly textured and intricately patterned veneer.

Purse and offering holder from Burma

As opposed to Chinese lacquer, its Burmese counterpart is made from the sap of the Melanorrhoea Usitata, a tree native to South East Asia.  It is completely unrelated to the shellac used in India and Europe, which is made from the resinous secretion of the insect Coccus Lacca.

All this is information is of course gleaned from various sites on the internet. Most of what I really know about the craft is thanks to my Nani.

Assorted containers on a lacquer tray from Burma 

Having spent quite a few years in Burma, she has managed to amass an impressive collection of artifacts, lacquer ware being a good part of it.

Her possessions have been a source of endless fascination and conversation on long summer days during our vacations.  My love for objects and how they colour our imaginations and histories entirely grew out of there.  

 Burmese betel nut boxes  

Nani had endless stories about Burmese fascination for Betel. Each house has an assortment of lacquered betel nut boxes - a cylindrical box made of woven bamboo and fitted inside with a pair of shallow trays to hold betel paraphernalia.

Headrest from Burma 

In an embellished account, almost story like, she told us how one of her small bowls was fashioned out of real hair, probably alluding to a peculiarity of Burmese lacquer, a technique whereby objects are made of individual strands of horse hair woven around a frame of very Finley split bamboo.   The object is made sturdy with application of successive layers of lacquer before the final coating of embellishment and pattern can be worked upon.  Tediously made over months, objects thus produced are soft and pliable, unlike the containers made from coiled bamboo or  Jack fruit wood.

 Chinese Lacquer coffee table 

Taking a cue from early memories, I have naturally gravitated towards collecting lacquer from all over. The not too shiny, not to matte finish of Chinese lacquer, makes it suitable for coating furniture. Its incredibly polished appearance and strengthening properties make it an ideal choice for an array of very handsome looking furniture.

Lacquered spoons and platter from Burma and China

Thicker, textured and malleable, Burmese lacquer is great for turning every day objects into pieces of art.  Worth mentioning here are lacquer traditions from Vietnam and Japan.  The former has a history of about two thousand years. Newer than most other traditions, Vietnamese lacquer resins are harvested from the Rhus Succedanea tree and converted into natural lacquer which is then applied to paintings and fine art. Markets of Hanoi and Saigon boast the most colourful and glitzy display of lacquer ware from local artisans. With the addition of other materials like plant material ash, egg shells gold and silver etc, artisans are able to churn out innovative and vibrant lacquer pieces in almost all colours conceivable.

Burmese Lacquer bowls 

Called Urushi, Lacquer has been an integral part of the Japanese lifestyle. It has an impressive 6000 year history in Japan. Used to coat a range of articles including furniture and table ware, Japanese lacquer ware has long obsessed the imaginations of the West. So much so that the various methods developed in Europe beginning in the 17th century were instantly dubbed `Japanning'.