2 Water colour construction installation

Material:Metal Box, Water Bags, Sand, Construction Material

With a decade long involvement with global water politics as well as water crisis; articulating these concerns aesthetically, Aarti Zaveri, in the Jaipur Art Summit 2017, has a site specific installation titled ‘Water : Colour : Construction’.

Taking the commonly used snack containers as the fundamental structure of this installation, Aarti creates a triangular assembly, simulating not only the concrete edifices in the urban spaces but also creates a graded construction in which water is sourced and distributed. The triangular structure connotes the most stable form. But the gradation of water distribution created out of coloured water also represents the unstable and disparate ways in which water is distributed in any society. The darkly coloured water at the base could stand for the contaminated and polluted state of water. That replicates the base level of any society, where people get bad, impure water. And also it is at the base that the water gets polluted. As we move up in the structure depending on the level we are in, our water becomes unadulterated. At the top most layer , in all the three sides, the purest of water is distributed.

Aarti  has been a painter too. Her oeuvre is comprised of highly figurative narratives as well as emblematic abstractions. Formally speaking, (without attaching this installation with any socio-political issues) this work is a triangle created out of differently coloured water. From a distance  the viewer gets a feeling of seeing an abstract painting. As one moves closer to the work, and circumambulates it, they get to see; these paintings  done with water and colour. The water and colour in the title is a word, pun in order to subvert the simplicity of a water colour work and facilitating it with meanings that are nationally and globally relevant.

The personal journey of the artist is also reflected in the graded water structure. The artist seems to say that as one moves towards the upper levels of creativity, one tends to become transparent. Even viewing of it becomes a sublimating experience.