JOIN USAt first glance, especially if you have seen Puneet Kaushik’s work before, you get a feeling of déjà vu. Delve a little deeper and you find a man of few words but an artist of great talent who is in no great hurry to make it to the headlines. With his new body of work, titled ‘Symbiosis’, being exhibited at Art Konsult in New Delhi, he claims to be following a growth chart that he is most comfortable with. This is perhaps why he doesn’t make a dramatic departure from his last show in 2008, excepting the usage of newer material and media, and believes that the works need to be understood in connect and continuation of his last exhibit.
He continues to expose his psychic self in life-size installations and large drawings, both in mixed media, creating and recreating situations that are daring and at the edge — projecting the self in its fractured, multiple identities. The emphasis in his last show on the colour ‘pink’ has ceased to exist though. He says: “Last year, the colour pink meant many things to me… the gay pink, the Nazi soldiers and the free spirit. I was reacting to almost having ‘pink in my veins’!” This year, the catalyst that fascinates the young artist is the colour ‘red’.
He explains: “I am onto the next stage of life’s consciousness. From the free-spirited pink, I have moved on the full-bodied red that represents full-on passion for life.”
Ask him if red also symbolises for him motifs from society as had pink for AIDS and Nazi soldiers, he confirms with a nod. “Red is all around us. A greater religious and socio-political symbolism can be understood through this colour. Its manifestations are in form of sindoor, tilak, aalta etc.”
The intent of the show oscillates from de-generation to generation, construction to destruction, each pair governed by the linearity of time. He creates forms that celebrate the element of construction within one’s self, building up with time towards self realisation, but finally its anti-thesis moving towards decaying that very being. Just as cycle of life moves from the sub conscious, conscious to the unconscious, Puneet’s works explore a lifetime of the journey of the being, providing a method for the viewer to interpret this journey through his being.
Expectedly then, the narration in Puneet’s work begins with the essence of “the self”. For instance, in his work titled ‘Symbiosis’, Puneet constructs the ‘continuity of life’ with multiple layers. At a size of eight feet in diameter, the installation is made of stainless steel and wire mesh, ‘Symbiosis’ reflects a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between two people yet wrapped in layers of turmoil that finally alter the essence of relationship with time, forcing it to degenerate, finally laying the foundation for new growth and a new generation.
In another stainless steel installation, titled Bricollage, he portrays life’s most essential aspect which is ‘growth’. Hanging down 15 feet from the ceiling, this installation is made of cotton, wire mesh and sequinned dust. The installation is weaved around a nine-feet-long light tube which stands erect as a spine symbolising strength with the bunch of cotton symbolising society. Says Puneet: “An individual matures emotionally through a continuous cycle of social contact just as an artist is influenced by every stimulus that is around him.”
Another work titled ‘Germination’, gives the concept of ‘growth’ a larger dimension. Attached to one whole side of the wall, this group of 15 smaller works varies in sizes of one-two feet each. With ample light effects, the shadows of the works falling on the walls are also visible. Made up of wire mesh, sprout-like seeds with roots bursting out from the work refer to an individual who, as he grows older, starts to interact with people outside his family, breaking the proverbial umbilical cord and stepping out into a hitherto unknown world. But, yet his shadow which is inseparable from the self always goes along with him.
In two other striking installations titled ‘Body as Vessel’ and ‘Sacrificial Vows’, Puneet has used goat leather skin. Says the artist: “Using goat skin in my installations came after I saw the Andhra puppeteers using it for making their puppets. Just like on festive occasions, a goat is slaughtered or sacrificed, in the same way in our day to day living, we do sacrifice something or the other, be it our opinion in front of friends and colleagues, our wishes in front of our parents and spouse…”
Last but not the least, his drawings titled ‘Linement’ show ‘the being’ enmeshed in day-to-day affair. In a size of 9x8 feet, these drawings at first glance seem abstract but look closely and one finds physical loops around the figures. Says Puneet: “Drawings are my first study of understanding art. The loops or the chakras represent the emotions one experiences daily, a vicious cycle from which one cannot get out. The colours I have used represent the various moods which the self goes through — red for conflict, blue for calmness, green for acquiring wealth and pink for romance.”
Puneet Kaushik presently lives in Delhi. To source his materials, he travels all over India as well as works with different craftspeople from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.