Nihilistic Optimistic

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)

“Self Imposed Misery”

Sometime back I wrote in my post “Obey Sound and Vision” that my interest in art is quite recent and I am in the beginner’s phase now. Well, I am quite happy with my nativity around the subject as I know unless someone’s pot is empty you can never expect to pour more in it. And I wont be exaggerating to admit that London is a place where you can ‘unlearn’ and ‘relearn’ many of the things which interest you.

Nasty pieces of work

So this time my destination was Blain Southern gallery  on the 4, Hanover Square, London W1S 1BP. It is an International gallery which represents some of the world’s leading contemporary artists. I heard of this amazing exhibition called “Nihilistic Optimistic”by two young artists named Tim Noble and Sue Webster few days back but the plan to visit it happened quite suddenly. I went to Oxford Street for some shopping and made my way there with a friend.

A child playing with shadows

Kate Kellaway of The Observer rightly observed about this exhibition in the following words in The Guardian,

“Tim Noble and Sue Webster have built their careers making something out of nothing. They have ransacked skips, constructed intricate piles of junk and transformed them, under bright lights in dark rooms, into breathtakingly accurate self-portraits: shadows on walls. They have salvaged themselves. “

People

My tryst with installation art was started with an Indian connoisseur of this field, Mr. Vivan Sundaram. It was during the Film Appreciation course I did at the Film & Television Institute of India(FTII) in Pune where famous artiste Vivan Sundaram came to teach us a session called “Film and Art”. I really enjoyed that session where Vivan taught us about how meaning can be created with everyday objects.

Nihilistic Optimistic as an installation art is quite an interesting experiment to me. The sawdust, wood shavings and tools was lying scattered around the artworks, making it look like unfinished. The official summary of the artwork describes it as,

“A sense of urban chaos is implicit within the construction of the surrounding gallery environment; this is not an isolated white cube space, but one which remains connected to the studio and the streets – to the source of these artworks.”

I with the shadow

I specially loved the Wild Mood Swings where the artists created the impression of two estranged lovers sitting facing opposite to each other. I just could not stop myself to include me in the shadows and click a pic where I am cajoling the girl.

Its not that you can’t find artwork with shadows. Doll dance (or Putul Nach in Bengali )was, and is always a popular form of entertainment in rural Bengal where moving shadows of dolls often contribute in making the story. Madhya Pradesh (a state in India) Tourism Board has specially used shadow art by hand to make a video and promote tourism in the state where Khajuraho cave(Kamasutra fame) and Sanchi Stupa are situated.

Last but not the least, I must mention about another installation artwork My Beautiful Mistake which welcomes you at the entrance of this gallery. It catches your attention not only by its size and form but also with the unique meaning that it carries. It gives you a feeling of impending destruction unlike any of the artwork there.

My beautiful Mistake

Tim Noble, the artist behind Nihilistic Optimistic says about it in the following words,

“There was a kind of deliberate choice not to use such recognisable objects any more, and to start fracturing things up – splintering things. So the mind has to wander in a different way, like you’re giving and taking, and it’s as much about the gaps and holes in between.”