Arti Sandhu
Tuesday, May 05, 2009Arti Sandhu is a designer I have been following for a while on her flickr. But seeing this new series of illustrations by her really knocked my socks off. What fun- Madhubani meets contemporary. I love her lines, her humour and the droopy faces in interesting contexts in each of these pieces. Arti teaches design and has lived and worked in India, New Zealand and she is now in America. "Home for me is a complex notion, though on some level it will always be India. I write on the subject of Indian tastes and clothing (fashion), dabble in mix media drawings and take photographs when opportunity strikes."
I really respect Arti's work & asked if we could do an interview & here it is!
Arti Sandhu: I feel India shapes my visual sensibilities in numerous ways…ways that I only came to realize as I starting making my own mix media work a few years ago..
I feel we (in India) all have a strong (sub conscious) connection to craft, textile and the layering of textures, motifs etc. We also live in multi layered urban environments which have similar constructs of color, texture etc. However honing this or find a way to make it personal to me really only came when I moved away from India as a site of home…and began to return to it (yearly). Perhaps it was some sort of nostalgic migrant hang-over that I suffer/ed from (and many other migrants suffer from) that makes one polarize certain aspects and often even over romanticise the “past”…but this process certainly allowed me to indulge in ideas and concepts that I began to appreciate as an outsider, who had intimate memories of being an insider…if that makes sense.



Artnlight: We come from a very colourful artistic heritage, thats so different from the western aestheic, which side do you personally gravitate to?
Arti Sandhu: I’m not sure which side I gravitate too. What I do know is that I tend to gravitate towards certain visual characteristics that are not necessarily from any one particular place. I’m intrigued by urban fragments, signage, folk and outsider art, awkward compositions and repetition…to name a few. Miss match as an aesthetic is something I really like too.
Arti Sandhu: I’m not sure which side I gravitate too. What I do know is that I tend to gravitate towards certain visual characteristics that are not necessarily from any one particular place. I’m intrigued by urban fragments, signage, folk and outsider art, awkward compositions and repetition…to name a few. Miss match as an aesthetic is something I really like too.

Arti Sandhu: Madhubani has always appealed to me – as on one hand it is extremely simple in its line quality and naïve motifs, but extremely complex through composition, fineness of detail and the use of line and repetition etc. The combination of storytelling and decorative techniques really appeals to me and also the lengths the artist goes to – to tell a story and make it visually appealing.
My new series “Mahila Moments” had been brewing in my head for a long time and I started some early doodles in Summer 08…. thats when I tried my hand at some pen drawings combined with photo collage. The pen work was initially inspired by Madhubani style borders – the use of stripes, simple geometric shapes and their repetition in particular. I also started to experiment with drawing the human figure at some point….and as I was/am also writing about modern Indian fashion….the Mahila Moments drawings started to evolve. But I really got excited this past Dec/Jan as I finally worked out a sort of style of drawing – the figures with the round heads and stocky bodies with equally awkward/pensive expressions. Since then series began and has been super exciting for me to work on as I enjoy the humour that goes with each drawing.
My new series “Mahila Moments” had been brewing in my head for a long time and I started some early doodles in Summer 08…. thats when I tried my hand at some pen drawings combined with photo collage. The pen work was initially inspired by Madhubani style borders – the use of stripes, simple geometric shapes and their repetition in particular. I also started to experiment with drawing the human figure at some point….and as I was/am also writing about modern Indian fashion….the Mahila Moments drawings started to evolve. But I really got excited this past Dec/Jan as I finally worked out a sort of style of drawing – the figures with the round heads and stocky bodies with equally awkward/pensive expressions. Since then series began and has been super exciting for me to work on as I enjoy the humour that goes with each drawing.


The introduction of the “small aubergine [baingan]” came from a video clip of the BBC comedy Goodness Gracious Me.




Stay tuned, coming up soon is a post full of Arti's brilliant photography.
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