Inside Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra: A consuming celebration in clay

Head to Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra first ceramics triennale to grasp and absorb all the forms clay can take

Burying oneself in one’s work takes on a whole new meaning as you watch Ester Beck’s film loop at Jaipur’s Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK). She and a co-artist painstakingly create a massive 4.5-tonne mound of clay, slice it like a cake with wire and a few other sharp instruments, and at some stage, bury themselves in it as they slowly destroy what they created.

 

Ester Beck, Matter is a Centre of Dreaming, 2018 (sculpture + performance). Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

 

For Beck, it is the act itself that carries the real meaning of what one does. Watching her getting consumed, enveloped and even suffocated by the mud, I held my breath and felt goose-bumps on my arms. Her short film – Matter Is A Center of Dreaming - of between 5-7 minutes gives the audience a peek into what it takes to get to the final creations you view – one piece is on display at the show.   

Finding words to describe the first contemporary ceramic art triennale in Jaipur is easier said than done. Esoteric, exciting, eclectic, experiential and even eerie would all qualify. With a total of 47 artists work on display, any viewer will get a fair idea of just how sophisticated the use of clay can be, through a range of works that comprise art installations, sculptures, paintings or a mix of all.

Juree Kim, Evanescent Landscape-Svarglok, 2018, Jaipur soil, water, variable size
Evanescent Landscape: Hwigyoung Video of the process on a loop, clay, water and video. Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

Next to Beck, Juree Kim’s Evanescent Landscape – Svarglok, 2018, based on her month-long study and research of several buildings in Jaipur including the Hawa Mahal, Amber fort and the City Palace to create what she places before the viewer, has many riveted. Her work comments on urbanisation and the erasure of history. She is struck by the beauty of Jaipur and saddened by the pollution and destruction she sees. The structure she has created for the show is inspired by the rich architecture and material of the Pink city and appears to be sinking into water. The work comes at a poignant time: with the recent Kerala floods fresh in the minds of people, I hear many viewers ask whether there had been a flood in Jaipur or if one was expected.

Japan’s Saturo Hoshino’s – “Beginning Form – Spiral”, 2018, an abstract work was created after spending several weeks in February this year at Art Ichol, Maihar in Madhya Pradesh, work that he physically transported to Jaipur for the show. Occupying virtually an entire wall, the eye-catching piece holds centrestage and dwarfs everything else in the room. The installation is made of multiples and emerges from a collision of clay and hand. The artist says that he considers his interaction with clay to be collaborative and not an “imposition of his own will”. If clay could speak, we’d know the facts.

Hoshino Saturo, Begining form - Spiral, 2018. Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

One of the curators of the show, Vineet Kacker’s “Endless Landscape” stands out for its clever use of mirrors to grab more space than it actually takes up. The work, inspired by the high and vast Himalayas, depicts summer and winter in the region and their cyclical nature. The mirrors give an illusion of endlessness although there are just two main pieces to the work. Many viewers spend a few minutes working out the ingenious technique of display.

Vineet Kacker, Endless Landscape I: Summer
Endless Landscape II: Winter, 2018, ceramic, mixed media. Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

An equally clever use of light is on offer by one of the other curators, Madhvi Subrahmanian, in her work titled “Forest of Shadows”, bringing conceptual and sensory experiences together. An abstract distillation of city structures and floor plans, her work explores the window as a key architectural component. Above all, it doesn’t allow you to move away to the next installation without trying to capture the brilliant play of light through the windows on both sides.

Madhvi Subrahmanian, Untitled, 2018, stoneware, light, shadow and projection. Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra
 

While almost all the works at the show deserve a mention, Anjani Khanna’s Unnamed, 2018, a dark corner using quasi-human animal forms – hanging and lying on the ground – manages to create the effect it desires. I watch two young girls wince in horror at the display and puzzle over what the artist is trying to convey. “Why is she scaring us all like this” is what one of them murmurs. Khanna’s haunting work is a cry against the daily atrocities one reads of in today’s newspapers (rape, murder and lynchings) and she tries to convey how the daily onslaught ceases to outrage after a point. The entire section has bloodied hands on newspapers stuck against a black cloth as the backdrop. Sounds eerie? That’s because it is!

Anjani Khanna, Unnamed, 2018, porcelain, rope, fabric, paper. Photo: Jawahar Kala Kendra 
 

The triennale, however, goes beyond the norm. Besides stuff to see, there’s stuff to do, especially for children. UK artist Kate Malone set up a live studio with three colleagues and held an adult workshop for 22 people and a second one for 60 school students. Ruby Jhunjhunwala held a workshop for special children - “Movement with Clay” - in September. One of the curators, Reyaz Badruddin, will hold a two-day workshop on mosaic in October. Rashi Jain will hold a children’s workshop on Faces. Film screenings, book launches and a symposium set off the event, which began on August 31 and is on till November 18th. 

But for those not moved by art, paintings, clay or ceramics, the venue itself is a joy to wander around. Recently renovated, the JKK has several exquisite nooks, crannies and corners enveloped in a green, leafy calm. The Quaint café has great salads and sandwiches while the canteen is a vibrant, lively place thronging with youngsters. Last but not least, the Play Clan shop within the premises can leave you a lot poorer even as the show leaves you a lot richer.