Art as second nature

Working with interesting materials like fireworks, sawdust, cement etc, Siddharth Kerkar is all set to host his first solo art show ‘Scapes’ at Museum of Goa, Pilerne. NT BUZZ comes away amazed

CHRISTINE MACHADO| NT BUZZ

Over the past few years, Siddharth Kerkar has been a part of group exhibitions around Goa, and has also founded the Goa Affordable Art Fest in 2017. Now the youngster is all set to take things a step further as he hosts his first solo art show ‘Scapes’ from August 25 at Museum of Goa, Pilerne.

Hailing from an artistic background, Siddharth, the son of artist Subodh Kerkar, has immersed himself in the world of art since a young age and is especially inspired by nature. With his home located right in the midst of greenery in the beautiful village of Saligao, the landscapes around him have often served as his muse in creating his abstract artworks. “Also, I have travelled a lot and always try and get the window seat in a plane so that I can look down on the different landscapes from a bird’s eye view,” he says.

What’s really interesting is that Siddharth in fact enjoys making his own paints from materials he finds around him.

“The first time I did a slightly 3 dimensional work was when a carpenter was working at my studio. There was some sawdust lying around and I decided to use this to create a piece,” he recollects. Siddharth liked this technique and went on to do many other works using a variety of other materials like sand, mud, wooden pieces, cement etc.

Moving to London to pursue art studies, saw him experimenting yet further. “In London, I converted my kitchen into a studio and started using the materials lying around. I did a series of works where I did impressions of pasta on tea,” he reveals. There is an interesting story behind him choosing these two materials in particular. “It is said that in the 1500s Marco Polo collected the recipe of making noodles and tea on his voyage to China and took these to Italy. I had based this series on that story,” he says.

Indeed, the environment often finds a way into his work, says Siddharth. When there was some wall plastering work going on at the Museum of Goa studio, Siddharth decided to experiment with cement. In December, with a lot of fireworks all around, he was struck with the idea of using these to burn paper and create art works.

His upcoming exhibition will see him demonstrating the works that he has done over the past three years. “Usually I put these up at the museum, and if it sells, so be it, but not many people get to see it. I have been working on art works and adding to my portfolio for a while now. Having created quite a few works, I decided it was time to show these to a larger audience,” he says, adding that about 50 select works will be on display.

Going into the details of contemporary art today, Siddharth states that it is not something that everyone can connect to. “It’s not really all their fault though. The syllabus in India for contemporary art is not too advanced. In Indian art colleges you will have separate departments for photography, fine art and design, sculpting, painting, graphic designing etc. I believe that there shouldn’t be this sort of categorisation. Art is about using different kinds of materials, different mediums, different kinds of forms, it’s about expressing yourself. You shouldn’t restrict yourself by only looking at one medium,” he says.

In fact, Siddharth states, this was the reason he decided to pursue his graduation at Chelsea School of Art in London, which incidentally is the same college which his favourite contemporary artist Anish Kapoor also attended. “Here, you are given more freedom to do what you want, to expose yourself to a different kind of art world. Art here is considered almost second religion and we should inculcate that kind of culture in India too,” he says.

 

(‘Scapes’ open on August 25 at Museum of Goa. It will remain on display till September 10)