Juneja Art Gallery & Gallery Artchill

From 23rd to 30th Sept. 2020

Found objects from trash have for generations sparked the imagination of the artist. If nothing else then at least the idea of it. This is always reinforced with a title. There is also, some degree of alteration, modification by the artist, to create his own touch, values and political thought. This method is now being critically discussed, as any object taken from its real ‘purpose’ including ‘ready-mades’, constitutes modification of the object because it changes our perception of the utility and purpose of the same. This is exactly what Kishan Meena’s work tries to do.

Artists from India & round the world have dealt with the subject of trash, waste water and other such general daily refuse that man creates, over and over again, in abundance and without much thought. Trash objects have been picked up and relocated in art galleries for a few decades. One of the main objectives of the artist who picks out objects from trash heaps is to rearrange them to make a profound statement and give a new meaning.

Kishan Meena’s work is unique because he has not gone through heaps of trash and rearranged the objects as his eye has remained on flowing waste water in a small polluted river round the corner from where he lives. He has photographed flowing water with toxic waste and debris, stopping it just for the moment when it turns into an abstract visual. Unlike a trash artist he has not picked up anything, nor re arranged it to suit his vision, he has simply shown ‘what it is’. The only manipulation he has done is to mirror the images, and with that, like a magic wand has turned them it into intricate abstract images, almost unrecognizable from what they actually are. Even if critically examined, if not told what the images are about it is difficult to imagine the original source of them.

What is interesting about Kishan Meena’s ‘art’ is that he has taken a flow of extremely toxic waste water and frozen it in time. Unlike many, Meena has not titled any works and leaves them to the imagination of the viewer. One of the images, which has dry stems of grass sticking out, reminds one that nothing lives in this water. With his own humble eye he has made a political statement about life around his own living area showing from such minute detail where the world is going if we do not become more responsible. All the images are photographs, and disturbingly beautiful.

Written by Navroze Contractor

(photographer/ writer)