Tanmoy Samanta’s forthcoming exhibition will feature recycled 3D works made from old books, clocks, locks and keys. He shared details with Divya Kaushik
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and it is definitely the case in the art world. Trash has gained prominence like nothing else in the last few years and we have several examples of artists who produced wonders out of junk. What is more interesting now is that we have variations in the work created from the junk. They are no more just painted or converted into installations, there are recycled 3D versions and other interesting sculptures. Tanmoy Samanta is one such artist who has been thinking out-of-the-box to present junk in new ways, along with his regular paintings. His forthcoming exhibition at Gallery Espace will feature some works that have been created from recycled books, keys, locks and chairs. He picks up commonly used objects “as it is easy to initiate a dialogue through objects that people use in their daily lives.
” However, working with junk was not the primary objective of the artist, it happened over the course of time, while he was trying to look for a different medium to narrate his thoughts. “I started with paintings but I have been open to experiments. For this exhibition I collected locks, books and old keys. I have used old books, gluing the pages together, layering it with rice paper, excavating shapes out of the paper, adding objects. These objects are transformed into motifs that appear often in his work. This new body of work includes three-dimensional books. I see these books as a form, both as artifact and as medium. It becomes a process of metamorphosis as their old identity and content no longer existed,” explained the artist, who was trained at Shanitiniketan.
Samanta uses fragile rice paper and gouache, materials that bear traces of their history in Shantiniketan and in the work of Abanindranath Tagore. However, he uses pigment instinctively for its potential to render visual poetry. Working on more than one painting at a time, he creates layers of colour. One could view the compositions in terms of negative and positive spaces, areas that occupy and others that contain. “When I started painting I wanted to take forward the traditional medium, but the images and the themes that I have worked with have always remained relevant to contemporary times,” commented the artist.
The title of his forthcoming exhibition is All I have learned and Forgotten. Samanta recalls the remains of a fighter plane that had crashed on the seashore of his hometown in Still life. It is contained within a cabinet that also houses what could be a miniature industrial building. In A Chair for Nobody, the velvety red seat is occupied by nothing.
Cartographer’s Paradox-I and II speak of Samanta’s love for reading travelogues and his fascination with maps. He recalls hours spent reading over travel accounts, maps and globes, tracing countries and continents, wondering what the smells and tastes of each place would be like. In Cartographer’s Paradox-I, all the continents are brought together. The lines dividing continents and countries are rendered invisible. Samanta sees himself as a mapmaker, one who makes map without lines and borders. “You will see maps all around but these maps are not properly arranged to make it clear for the viewer that I am questioning the concept of political boundaries. The maps are jumbled up, though playfully,” he added. The exhibition will continue till January 12.