3-B Gallery, CICA Museum
January 26-30, 2022
2022.01.26-30
A fragment of time and perspective
When looking at buildings, I’ve always seen them as a personality as opposed to a structure. Each with their sense of space, structure, light, and shade. To me, they represent a legacy and a sense of eternity. Even though they are solid structures they are markers of civilization and art. The depth, however, is more towards a philosophical end where I ask the viewer to consider a post-apocalyptic future that is devoid of human presence. Dystopian and yet vibrant, it is like rendering a sense of limbo in muted technicolour. If you observe the rise of buildings against the horizon line, oftentimes they do not line up perfectly and that is what I want to emulate. The buildings are not perfect, but whole in and of themselves. So, my practice involves the deconstruction of the many buildings that I observe. I am influenced by De Chirico, Kandinsky, Maurice Golubov, and other artists that use geometry, perspective, and structure in order to deconstruct what we understand of our surroundings. Often, these buildings also work out in a digital format through overlaid imagery and colour. The images are archival and so create a sense of the past, but also a blurred future. Evolving a practice that began with the simplification of geometric forms and mathematical functions, the work has transformed now into an expression of our changing present and the significance of existing structures.
Moksha Kumar is an artist and art writer who graduated with a BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute, New York, and then completed her MFA in Art History from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. she is currently located at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai and has an active studio practice. Currently, she is selected for the COCA (Center for Contemporary Artists) project based in Italy, for her ground breaking research and archival documentation of Kolkata architecture. She was a part of the show ‘Inception’, on view at the Niv Art Gallery, New Delhi; and also, a part of the Madras Round Table 1, Auction for Charity 2020 – 2021 (Chennai, Tamil Nadu).
A participant of several group exhibitions and art events, including the first edition of The Other Art Fair organised by Saatchi Art in Chicago and the World Art Dubai, she held her first solo show at Kalakriti Art Café in 2015. She was also featured as one of the top five artists to look out for on the official Saatchi Art blog (during the Chicago fair).
Actively involved in various art projects around the world, such as Sing for Hope Pianos, the Prithvi Theatre Festival, and the St+art India project, Moksha was also a part of the Space 118 residency program in 2017. Her creative prowess is not limited to the arts as she has also worked as an illustrator, designer, social media manager, curator, art writer, and art consultant.
