Mixed media including fabric, paint and wood
Dimensions variable.
2013
Collection of Dipti Mathur, California
The charred black surface of In the Remains alludes to the horrific consequences of increasingly impersonal and mechanized warfare, while the forms of the structures themselves resemble the giant but shadowy weapons with which it is waged, or perhaps the remains of an incinerated forest caught in the crossfire.
The paintings accompanying it oscillate between the tangible and imagined, the textured and linear, the stark and subtle, channeling the edge of consciousness where the lines between the present, past and future break down. Layered decorative devices drawing inspiration from traditional Islamic and Christian imagery combine with a host of recurring contemporary motifs of industrial ruins, nomadic camps, rainbow patterns, explosions and clouds of smoke, giving rise to a world where familiar scenes from both Eastern and Western history and the present day become intertwined.
Using my own childhood memories as a starting point, abandoned landscapes and structures appear in both minimalistic and layered forms before expanding into complex conceptual and actualized narratives of personal reflections. Here, the processes of remembrance take on intricate yet lofty forms, travelling beyond a mere depiction of some distant place or story from once upon a time.
