"building materials", sculpture by dhruva mistry Options

[arnab]

another subcontinent presents our latest feature: "building materials: the sculpture of dhruva mistry". this exhibition, which presents a retrospective of dhruva mistry's work in sculpture since 1976 will be the featured presentation on our main site till july 3, 2007, and will then be available from our archive of visual features. we invite you to view this exhibition and post your comments and questions for the artist. (dhruva is currently travelling, and while he will try his best to access the discussion on his travels he is most likely to respond after his return to india on june 16.)

[Rumali Roti]

Wow! I can't believe the variety of material he works with. I especially love the bronzes -- River Goddess and Sitting Bull, and Spatial Study model being my favorite pieces.

Mr. Mistry,
How young were you when you started to sculpt? What's your favorite medium to work with?

This post has been edited by roshna: Jun 6 2007, 03:35 AM

[loislane]

Arnab, is there a way we could get some idea about the dimensions of these sculptures?

[arnab]

i think once dhruva gets back to his home base we can add that easily enough. unless that information is already in the materials he sent me and i've cleverly overlooked it....

[raavi]

Perhaps I am supposed to focus on the form, shape, size, etc of the sculptures, but one thing i found strange was that in all the faces of women depicted, the eyes seemed to stare in different directions. They had this dazed, hypnotised quality that I couldn't undertand the purpose of; as this was a consistent feature of the eyes, I wonder why they were depicted that way.

In other news, my favourite was the Walking Man. Coming back from Greece recently, in all the sculptures I saw, and in all the reliefs, the human body was depicted in its athletic, and erotic splendour. They were beautiful nonetheless, and being dedications to Gods, they were not supposed to have that touch of realism that they lacked, but still, it is refreshing to see a man that has a slight paunch, is not overly muscly, and looks quite normal. The sombre and farseeing expression on the face seems to contrast with the ordinary physique, and I think that it what first made me think that Mr Mistry was trying to depict a sadhu.

[Rumali Roti]

Coming back from Greece recently, in all the sculptures I saw, and in all the reliefs, the human body was depicted in its athletic, and erotic splendour. They were beautiful nonetheless. . .

"Nonetheless"? I'm not understanding this!

Arnab, is there a way we could get some idea about the dimensions of these sculptures?

I have the dimensions for two of the works featured: Walking Man is Life size; Sitting Bull, 7 3/4 X 5 7/8 X 9 3/8 inches. He did five Spatial Diagrams in bronze during 1988-90. If the one featured on the main page is about the same size as the others, its dimensions would be about 14 X 10 X 9 inches.

This post has been edited by roshna: Jun 6 2007, 04:46 PM

[raavi]

Coming back from Greece recently, in all the sculptures I saw, and in all the reliefs, the human body was depicted in its athletic, and erotic splendour. They were beautiful nonetheless. . .

"Nonetheless"? I'm not understanding this!

I meant that their lack of realism did not detract from their beauty, or craftsmanship. Sometimes things that are too perfect, such as a flawless character in a novel, or the most expertly-made creme brulee, become irritating to me, because they seem out of touch with the day-to-day world of ineptness that most people are a part of. It is insufferable, if you will.

Not so with these particular ones. Although to say that they are entire perfect is not quite inaccurate; many were dismembered, discoloured, and showed other signs of aging in a world of wars and natural disasters. They demonstrated that even though they began without a blemish, time took its toll.

[deedawar]

These are great especially the ones that invite touching. The elephant is full of life. The goddess of love is full of confidence. My favourites are the plaster and metal relief pieces.

What a talent!
Thanktou

[Dhruva Mistry]

I am thankful to kind responses of viewers.
It is for the first time that I am having this kind of exchange on the web. I hope to respond to queries where I can recall my ideas and awareness of specific concerns while making the work.

Sculpture is an individual's way and to understand the physical world to reveal the metaphysical through the means of one's conscious work.

Where one can guess scale of the large work in the open, I have not bothered with dimensions; franky most are yet to be measured.
With other figurative pieces, they are life size, average height of Asians.
The small works, often made as studies(sometimes sequence and series) before realizing lifesize or larger works have no deimension for certain images although they are noted down in a diary.

Dhruva Mistry

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 20 2007, 11:47 AM

[Dhruva Mistry]

Roshna,
Since early childhood I was interested to draw and play with available materials to make images of the world around me. It meant life and nature around me, animals and objects, people, automobile vehicles and houses as I learnt to use paper, glue, scissors and blades apart from small hand tools. I would think from about 5-6 years of age I was keen to work with what I could as a matter of self absorption and activity of learning; understanding and making it all visible to others.
Dhruva

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 20 2007, 10:52 AM

[Dhruva Mistry]

Raavi

Many pieces have a sense of feeling of daze as if being observed from close, being peered at and scrutinised. The images and their physique are as good as people from an alien culture being observed, photographed and documented. It is a strange feeling of being studied, observed and gauged by others whom one does not quite know. Certain degree of self consciousness, a sense of otherness and alienation in the world around is evident in contemporary life. An absence of short focus while some one looks at the work from close is an experience in itself. If we know anyone who does that in real life it can be sacry.

The works from 1979-81, man with Dog, Walking Man, Sitting Man, Kneeling Man and Sleeping Man possess
fairly sombre and far seeing expression on the face. While an eye looks at an exhibited object in space, through the human attributes of the given work, it deliberates to see the humane into it through series of associations and inferences. If the work looked at the viewer from a given distance, it would loose the quality of it being there beyond time and space, gazing into the unknown.

Dhruva

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 20 2007, 05:13 PM

[Dhruva Mistry]

Deedawar
Thank you very much.
Sculpture is more about touch than painting. 2 dimentional works create iluusion of space. We need light to see the work. 3 dimensional work help to define space through its form which can be felt by touch.
White Elephant was imagined like a playful embryo, an idea and a living form. Other works, you see them better.
Dhruva

[Dhruva Mistry]

Loislane

Where one can guess scale of the large work in the open, I have not bothered with dimensions; frankly most are yet to be measured.

With other figurative pieces, they are life size, average height of Asians. Size is iin relation to the viewer and subjectively to their physical scale. Hence a work as big as aperson is 'big'. Works bigger than that are 'large' and any thing smaller than both is 'small'.

The small works, often made as studies(sometimes sequence and series) before realizing lifesize or larger works have no deimension for certain images although they are noted down in a diary.

For me, it is not physical height, width and depth that is so important but its impact of psycholgical scale upon the mind of a viewer. Sometimes I see a small piece as a study with all possibilities as it may grow large when made to be so. Then, for others it is a small work, for me it big. It is rather like a seed with the potential of growth to be a tree. Indian Upanishada's have stories of such essentials in the form of dialogues with students and thier teacher.

Dhruva

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 21 2007, 10:58 AM

[VinodDave]

Hey, Dhruv(a):
Vinod here. Sala, shun kare chhe? 30 years have gone by, can you believe it? How is Trupti?

[Dhruva Mistry]

Dear Vinod,

Good to hear from you. I hope you are well. Sometimes I think of old days at the Faculty when there is nothing comparable in the present.
Trupti and Sumeru our son 10 are well. We do our work as well as can be done in Baroda. The city has changed. People are different. Even the same people I knew have changed. Good for them all.
haven't you been here recently?
Best regards.
Dhruva

[xena]

These are great especially the ones that invite touching.

Sculpture is more about touch than painting.

Like Deedawar, I was also drawn by the sensuousness of the textures on so many pieces - enhanced by the many different media you have in your work - cold steel, rough sand, cool chalk. You said that sculpture is more about touch - is that only from the point of view of making it? Or would you say that the experience (by the viewer) would be incomplete without touching? When I see something like this I would love reach out and feel it and run my hands over the lines - perhaps even with my eyes closed - but I am sure that would not be allowed in most galleries! They'd probably think it was very strange behaviour - or worse, vandalistic, isn't it? As an sculptor, what would be your view?

[xena]

Some of your pieces appear to display the Indian pictorial tradition - the metal leaf, for example, reminded me of relief work, and the elephant and the bull are rooted in Indian imagery. In contrast, other pieces have an abstract play (indeed, playfulness) between shapes and planes - it reminded me of Henry Moore's work (especially the reclining female figures, and steel torso) in that they too invite the viewer to walk around, peek through the spaces, different angles, different perspectives. The later work, the medallions, seemed flatter - for want of a better word, in that the dimension of depth is more subdued. I recall Prof Dhanapal saying that he was first influenced by Pallavan sculpture and later by Moore. Were you too similarly affected? Your work seems to explore many different sculptural inspirations. Could you tell us a bit about what influenced your art and its evolution? Thanks.

[Dhruva Mistry]

Xena
Sculpture as a form, often man-made is about touch. Its form, shape, size, textures, colour and sensuousness depends upon intentions of the maker as an artist.

For monumental works to be viewed from a distance, texture and sense of touch is more a visual aspect of the work as actual feel of the texture may be less savoury.

A sense of touch does not dwelve upon open or shut eyes as it is an experience of the form as a novel form.

Galleries present art as a commodity and fear that everybody touching the work may incur expense of loss of texture, colour or possible damage. Some times loan agreements do not allow mishandling of works.


About Indian pictorial tradition and influences I am choosy about what I respond to and like.

I seem to have innate interest in working to understand and varify human excellence that any tradition or other arts may offer. It may be due to my interest in Indian sculpture, its form, content, modelling, skill and tradition.
Moore in the 60s was quite an influence among Indian sculptors. I like the quality of the monumental, hence Moore. I do not think Art needs ironic titles and excessive use of words when something is there in its entirety for anyone to see. Working with materials is limited by space to make the work, its availability and access to use it for the best that one can do with it. I like compelling cutural artifacts where human ingenuity is appreciated, artists whose work is to discover their own self through barest of means like good musicians. Work is a learning process as one learns from what one sees and discovers the shortfall when something is made which may not be quite what one might have intended.

Sculpture is more real than painting in the sense that one cannot walk behind a painting to see the back view. Sculpture offers an experience of being in space. relationship of the form in the space as a matter of discovery. I believe that a good sculpture in space should not offer an imagined view of the form but reveal a surprise which the 3 dimension can offer while moving in given space and time. For that matter a relief(like the steel works and others) too can offer similar experience where illusion of space is real with its dimesion albeit limited than the form in an open space.








D

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 21 2007, 02:07 PM

[xena]

Thank you, Dhruvaji. That was most interesting.

[gingerly]

thank you for sharing this remarkable body of works here.
some questions- do you seek out a particular medium to realize forms and ideas, or do those follow the choice of medium?
what would you say has been the most challenging work to date?

also, the 'unmasked' works- were these constructed from found objects, or intended to look so?
thanks!

irrespective of the form, there seems to me to be a common energy to all the works – i love it best in the sitting bull in chalk!

[Dhruva Mistry]

Gingerly,

From experience and familiarity of medium I choose materials appropriate to realize particular forms and ideas. Some things may be better expressed using clay, chalk or wax(for bronze/metal casting), stone.
Sometimes, availibility of unusual materials allow possibilities. There was a heap of damaged wooden plates offered to me by a(n importer) friend if I could use them. They were good wooden objects of use. After a while I began to make things and it turned out to be a series of work called "Unmasked" for their mask like character.

I think my most recent stainless steel works in 3D are among the most challenging as they are the most time consuming and require a high degree of precision and accuracy; more so using computer to work with the design and mesurements.

D

[Rumali Roti]

Mr. Mistry,

Since you are so versatile with material, may I ask how you arrive at the decision of which material to use? For example, if you were to think of working on an abstract piece, when would you decide what material to use? (Warning: Stupid Question!) Do your hands overrule your mind when making the decision of material choice?

[arnab]

Sometimes, availibility of unusual materials allow possibilities. There was a heap of damaged wooden plates offered to me by a(n importer) friend if I could use them. They were good wooden objects of use. After a while I began to make things and it turned out to be a series of work called "Unmasked" for their mask like character

for illustration, here are some of those pieces (from gallery 3 of the exhibition):

[Dhruva Mistry]

Roshna,

Like most artists I use materials that are easily available. Like cooking, one decides what suits which kind of taste or seeks ingredients closest to intended recipe. It is a matter of one's taste and experience to make choices.

Moreover, materials do not entirelydictate shape of the form, abstract, figurative or else. One can see abstaction in modern sculpture(i.e. Arp, Naguchi) as well as Hellenic realism both using marble for instance and well within their intensions. Use of hard granite for many Egyptian works does not make the work more or less abstract for that matter. Strangely they worked with copper chisels ans iron was not known and available to them. Materials are seen to be inert by nature, its use defy their material substance, enhance it or exemplfy its most salient qualities. The best of works define this with superb understanding of one's medium filtered through years of experienced learning called tradition.

Even while drawing on a piece of paper(with or without light) if one's hand would not follow that paper one cannot see the result. Traditional sculpture materials are bit more tedious and can be difficullt for mere hands to take over as eyes and mind too are engaged for each effort of handling it. However, this can happen with varying set of reason as one can see that how Bancusi, Arp, Archipenko, Moore, Brezsca and others were involed in Direct Carving as opposed to traditional replication of a plaster model by professional carvers using pointing compass; the wayRodin's marble sculptures were made.

D

This post has been edited by Dhruva Mistry: Jun 22 2007, 12:41 PM

[raavi]

If the work looked at the viewer from a given distance, it would loose the quality of it being there beyond time and space, gazing into the unknown.

Dhruva

Thank you Dhruva,

The above was a most interesting comment... I have never heard of someone considering the perspective of the object!
In any case, I see the emphasis you have put into creating certain expressions, and beneath those expressions, certain states of mind, which you decribed. Once again, appreciate the notes and the sculptures.

Raavi

[VinodDave]

(quote)
haven't you been here recently?
[/quote]

yes, i was in india last summer (2006), but i did not visit baroda. next time i will meet up with you.
best. - vinod

[Dhruva Mistry]

Vinod,
Thank you for your response. Do send your email ID.
Best.
Dhruva

*edited to remove personal information*

This post has been edited by arnab: Jun 29 2007, 11:13 PM

[VinodDave]

*edited with permission of vinod dave to remove personal information*

This post has been edited by arnab: Jun 29 2007, 11:12 PM

[balamani-m]

Dhruva's sculptures draw many intellectual meanings than the appreciative forms alone. He creates that through the materials/reality/knownness but what is expressed is more imaginative and takes the viewer to further dimensions. He is one such thought provoking artist who can make drawings in the space. He can create horizons from simple looking forms. Reality/simplicity of the forms of his sculptures are at an arm's length and seductive.


Balamani M

[surjit]

Great exhibit!

I was wondering...are the sculptures completely designed on the drawing board first before they are made, or do you improvise while you are making them?

Do you work off sketches? Do you make small models first?