MIND & MATERIALITY

India Art Fair 2022 (Booth No. C10)

Jaideep Mehrotra & Isha Pimpalkhare

Thursday, April 28 to Sunday, May 1, 2022

Art tends to explore the influence of material on the mind, endeavouring to invoke engagement with the physical/visual and trigger internal reaction/reflection. Rather than the traditional mind over matter trope, the idea is to in fact use matter to create a catharsis of the mind. Both Mehrotra and Pimpalkhare try and highlight this synergy through their play with different materials in order to explore mental impact. With the increasing absurdity of our times, the reality of this influence is immense and brings to light questions about the ways of engagement and the primal role of environment.

Jaideep Mehrotra's latest self-developed technique is a culmination of over seven years of research and experimentation. Composed of a combination of metal, paint and various mixed media on canvas, the elements come together to forge intriguing, highly reflective works that tantalise viewers with their uncanny luminosity. The immense reflective surfaces are like minds, in the sense that the mind observes and absorbs the universe, and models it. We approach art not to see something else, but to see ourselves. These paintings return to us the world as visualised by our childlike instinct: mutable, sparking with potential, fluid in form. Therefore his creations urge one to explore the idea of art as being a reflection of our surrounding culture, facilitating a much-needed pondering in the viewer. He states, “there are no certain ‘laws of beauty’ involved. One is merely prompted to think about the nature of art, of looking at art, of humanity, of our times, of our own selves.”

Young and upcoming Isha Pimpalkhare explores a similar idea of the immense emotional influence of tactile environments on our minds. A textile and mixed media artist, she situates her practice at the convergence of art and design. Her dynamic installations question the role materiality plays in our everyday lives, by creating heightened sensory experiences through such a tangible practice. Concepts and thoughts around Biophilia and Neuroarchitecture play an important role in her investigation of the material medium, with a focus on using art to soothe the mind and connect us with our innate sensibilities. Her works merge the experience of visual and tactile, allowing our focus to be entirely in the moment whilst looking at the art.

Both Contemporary artists come together to create aesthetically stunning works that are a delight to interact with. Though divided by generation and experience, the context of their content is universally relevant. The objective is to connect the experience of our surface senses with a deeper intellectual knowing, leading to an awareness of the interconnected state of our bodies and bridging the gap between the external and internal processing of the world. The process is cyclical and while the mind triggers creative ideation that is expressed through matter, it is then matter that again leads the way to the opening of the mind.

- Sanjana Shah

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