JOIN USBroken machine parts make for eye-catching installations
Gopal Namjoshi’s iron-welded installations titled, ‘Co-existence: you/me/them/us Ecological Conversations’, at India Habitat Centre speak for themselves.
He has reconstructed the scratched, broken, damaged and thrown-away parts of bicycles, cars, bikes, utensils etc to shape them into artistic installations. The damaged and wasted iron took new forms such as cows, birds, humans, monkeys, insects, goats and the living world of all organisms. The sculptures look life-like and complete with genuine expressions which can be seen reflecting out of the metallic form.
The goats smile, the cow and her calf depict warmth. The rusted and dusted man with a moustache relaxing in the middle, surrounded by reindeers, dancing peacocks, birds chirping and hopping hither and thither, present a sardonic picture of present day human conditions.
The peacock installation, Namjoshi tells Metrolife, has a history attached to his childhood. “When I was in Jaipur, I used to see many peacocks near my house. Now I hardly see one,” Namjoshi says.
Through the installations, which come across as an ‘iron-made man resting within nature’, the artist wants to question the audience about the mechanical life they
lead today.
“Consumerism is increasing here. Whereas the west is adopting more ways to conserve resources, India is still following the development plan that the west has long dropped,” he says.
“The rise in carbon level, climate change and such natural hazards are something inescapable today. Each one is affected by it, it is not going to affect a separate class or caste,” he adds.
Since Namjoshi ‘burnt nothing and only welded different parts of mechanical objects’, he says no carbon emanated while crafting his installation. He took almost nine months to complete all the installations.
Readying to combat the challenges of life, the life-sized sculptures of animals and humans, look as if they have pulled their guard up and are standing against the cold harshness of the metro environment. “With a built of iron and steel, they are brawny and tough on the outside but, as they are a reflection of life in it various forms, they retain their true nature of innocence,” explains Namjoshi, adding ruefully that ‘today even smiling is mechanical process’.
“We watch an advertisement which ‘directs’ us, as to when we have to smile,” he says. The exhibition, currently on at India Habitat Centre, concludes on April 5.