Artist turns flea market finds into high art

BENGALURU: City-based artist Sharath Kulagatti picks objects from flea markets across the country, plays with their dimensions and transforms them into icons onhis canvases. For instance, he paints an oil can larger than it is, to lend it an eroticism.

Sharath works on large canvases or 6x4 sheets and a colourtone that calls to mind human bodies. "The brown or pink I use could represent skin or flesh," he says.

He plays on nostalgia with images of hurricane lamps or sewing machines. “Old objects such as a sewing machine and ironing box are being replaced,” he says. “Perhaps, these images would remind people of their grandmothers.” He found “the smallest sewing machine he has seen” in a flea market in Vadodara.

Sharath has collected about 40 to 50 objects so far and says the challenge is to use monochrome and use human figures in these objects. He cannot afford mistakes because he works with water colours.

“I first apply water on a sheet of a paper, then stick it on a plyboard and apply a layer of paint and sponge it if I need to remove any excess paint or water,” he says.

He lets it dry and then applies the next layer of paint. A masters in printmaking from M S University, Baroda, he used to work for a gallery in Mumbai. “The gallery wanted to display my works and that is how I started painting again,” he says. Also, he adds, it is not easy to find machines used in printmaking. He now teaches at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath.

He is currently working on another series about this shrinking city. “I recently moved back to Bengaluru from Vadodara. The city and space is becoming more important to me now.” Sharath Kulagatti will be presenting his work at the upcoming Ananya Drishya programme at Venkatappa Art Gallery on October 13.