Molten blends

The walls of the Visual Arts Gallery normally paints a pretty picture with works of genius’ like Shakti Burman, SH Raza or Biman Das. These artists have a long standing association with watercolour, oil paint and their signature style of representation. But seldom does the gallery display artworks made from coal tar and molten metal. 

Simran KS lamba’s current body of work titled Nouveau entails a collection of mixed media artwork on canvas, metal, wood and allied media. The mainstay medium used to create the artwork — coal tar, as opposed to its innate organic dense format — has been given form, shape, structure and dimension on canvas, metal, wood and allied bases, using a variety of ingenious methods therein. 

The inspiration is as diverse as the techniques, styles and material used. An assorted range of subjects, from the non-representational to the figurative, from portraits to abstractions of landscape and animals, are some of the focal points explored in the body of work. The series on flamingos along with the series on divergent windows created with wood, copper wire and metal sheets lend the body of work a diverse and varied expression. Renditions of divine imagery, scenes of valour and firecrackers juxtaposed with images that represent tranquil calm, play muse to the artist’s varied style of amalgamating various media and techniques.

The artist has used unconventional materials like molten metal, copper dust, metal sheets, copper wires and plates, wax, wire and wire mesh, leather, ink, metal rivets and nails, ropes, metal discs, polishing agents, crayons and oil paint amongst various other elements.He explained to us that the sculptures in coal tar filled with iron works are converged with spherical discs and void infused works, that form the blueprint of the installations, are inspired from Shunya. “It is where the iconic circular line is used to highlight the play of space. Thereby this results in a union of the two states through its central form, which has varied interpretations,” added the artist. 

In his works, lamba captures coal tar and treats it in various forms, layering it with diverse media through his vision. As the tar blends in with other assorted media it creates a mélange of form and abstraction. 

“Art is my nicotine, though it happened by chance as opposed to me choosing to be a visual artist. I have a background in theatre and filmmaking and was renovating our house when I first came across coal tar while waterproofing our terrace. I was extremely enamored by this pot of boiling hot tar, which was constantly changing shape and out of curiosity I decided to explore the medium. What resulted is an ongoing journey of new manifestations and ideas that continue to evolve,” he explained his fascination to the medium.