Alwar Balasubramaniam: Art of substance and absence

26,869 views ・ 2010-09-08

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:16
The moment I say "school,"
0
16260
2000
00:18
so many memories come back to me.
1
18260
3000
00:22
It's like after every exam, when I walk out,
2
22260
3000
00:25
the teacher would say, "Hey, come.
3
25260
2000
00:27
How did you do?"
4
27260
2000
00:29
I would say with a great smile, "I will definitely pass."
5
29260
2000
00:31
And I didn't understand why,
6
31260
2000
00:33
in one hand they say, "Speak the truth,"
7
33260
2000
00:35
in the other hand, when you say the truth, they hated you.
8
35260
2762
00:38
So it went on like that,
9
38046
1214
00:39
and I didn't know where else to find myself.
10
39260
3000
00:42
So I remember those nights
11
42260
2000
00:44
I used to go to sleep
12
44260
2000
00:46
with asking help from [the] Unknown
13
46260
3000
00:49
because, for some reason,
14
49260
2000
00:51
I couldn't believe what my father and mother
15
51260
2096
00:53
hanged in the Puja room as a god,
16
53380
2880
00:56
because my friend's family
17
56260
2000
00:58
had something else as a god.
18
58260
2000
01:00
So I thought, "I guess I'll pray to [the] Unknown
19
60260
2334
01:02
and ask help,"
20
62618
2642
01:05
and started getting help from everywhere,
21
65260
2000
01:07
each and every corner of my life at that time.
22
67260
3000
01:11
My brothers started giving me a few tips about drawing and painting.
23
71260
3239
01:14
Then, when I was in eighth standard
24
74523
2737
01:17
around 13 years old,
25
77260
3000
01:20
I started working in a part-time job
26
80260
2000
01:22
in one of the signboard artists called Putu.
27
82260
3000
01:28
And then school also started supporting me.
28
88212
2048
01:30
"Oh, he's bad at studies,
29
90260
2000
01:32
but let him send to the drawing competitions."
30
92260
3000
01:35
So it was good to survive with that little tool
31
95260
3000
01:38
that I found to find my own place in school.
32
98260
3000
01:42
And one of those competitions,
33
102260
2000
01:44
I just won a small, little transistor Philips radio.
34
104260
3000
01:47
And I didn't have the patience to wait
35
107260
2000
01:49
until I reached home.
36
109260
2000
01:51
So I just switched on in the train, loudly.
37
111260
2048
01:53
If you travel in Indian trains,
38
113332
1928
01:55
you can see people listening to radio
39
115260
2000
01:57
and, you know, even from their mobiles.
40
117260
2000
01:59
So at that time -- and I was 13 --
41
119260
2000
02:01
and I was listening to just radio,
42
121260
3000
02:04
and someone happened to sit next to me,
43
124260
2000
02:06
like these three people are sitting here.
44
126260
2000
02:08
You know, like just adjacent to me.
45
128260
2000
02:10
He just started asking, "Where did you buy the radio? How much is it?"
46
130260
3334
02:13
I said, "It's a prize from [an] art competition."
47
133618
2642
02:16
And he said, "Oh, I teach at a college of arts.
48
136260
3000
02:19
I think
49
139260
2000
02:21
you should study in a school of art.
50
141260
2000
02:23
You just quit school and come there."
51
143260
2000
02:25
So, why I'm telling you this,
52
145260
2000
02:27
you know, maybe, you know,
53
147260
2000
02:29
whoever is sitting next to you can change your whole life -- it's possible.
54
149260
3572
02:32
It is that we need we need to be open and fine-tuned.
55
152856
3000
02:36
So that's what made me enter
56
156260
3000
02:39
[the] college of arts after three attempts
57
159260
3000
02:42
and just continue to inquire
58
162260
3000
02:45
what I really want to do with art work, or art
59
165260
3000
02:48
and finally I'm here in front of you.
60
168260
2000
02:50
When I look back, you know,
61
170260
2000
02:52
on what happened between that time
62
172260
2000
02:54
and now here --
63
174260
3000
02:57
the last 10/15 years --
64
177260
2000
02:59
I can see that most of the works
65
179260
2000
03:01
revolve around three subjects,
66
181260
3000
03:04
but it was not intentional.
67
184260
2000
03:06
And I just start out with a trace because I was thinking,
68
186260
2000
03:08
"What really makes us?" -- you know,
69
188260
2000
03:10
it's actually [the] past, what makes a person.
70
190260
3000
03:14
So I was thinking,
71
194260
2000
03:16
but when you look at the past,
72
196260
2000
03:18
the way to understand the past
73
198260
2000
03:20
is only by the traces available,
74
200260
2000
03:22
because we cannot go back [to] the past.
75
202260
2000
03:24
It can be ruins, or it can be music,
76
204260
2000
03:26
or it can be painting or drawing or writing, whatever it is.
77
206260
3000
03:29
But it is just a kind of trace of that time.
78
209260
3000
03:34
And that fascinated me,
79
214260
2000
03:36
to explore that territory.
80
216260
3000
03:40
So I was working on the line,
81
220260
3000
03:43
but instead of working about traces,
82
223260
4000
03:47
I started capturing traces.
83
227260
3000
03:50
So here are some of the works I would like to show you.
84
230260
3000
03:53
So this is called "Self In Progress."
85
233260
3000
03:56
It's just a trace of being in this body.
86
236260
3000
03:59
So here, what happened then,
87
239260
2000
04:01
you know -- what I really enjoyed the most
88
241260
2000
04:03
is that this sculpture
89
243260
2000
04:05
is nothing but a trace of myself.
90
245260
3000
04:09
It's almost like a 3D photograph.
91
249260
2000
04:11
So there is an element of performance,
92
251260
2000
04:13
and there is an element of sculpture,
93
253260
2000
04:15
and there is an element of feeling one's self, so close to one's self.
94
255260
3334
04:18
So it's almost like fossils for the future.
95
258618
2642
04:21
And then moved slowly
96
261260
2000
04:23
to explore the other possibilities of capturing traces.
97
263260
3000
04:29
So this is what I was talking about, while molding,
98
269260
3000
04:32
it's such a great experience,
99
272260
2000
04:34
because we have freedom of like walking,
100
274260
2000
04:36
or moving my hand or, moving around in the space,
101
276260
3000
04:39
but the moment this becomes solid,
102
279260
3000
04:42
when you cannot move even an inch,
103
282260
3000
04:45
because this is plaster of Paris, so the moment you pour it it's like liquid;
104
285260
3667
04:48
but after 20 minutes, it's almost like a hard stone.
105
288951
3000
04:52
So this is capturing the trace of a thumbprint
106
292260
4000
04:56
because, knowingly or unknowingly,
107
296260
2000
04:58
whatever we do, you know, we leave our traces here.
108
298260
3000
05:01
So I just thought, "I'm going to capture
109
301260
3000
05:04
thumbprint, footprint,
110
304260
2000
05:06
or whatever traces we leave as humans."
111
306260
3000
05:09
This is the trace of fire,
112
309260
3000
05:12
this is the trace of sun.
113
312260
3000
05:15
Because when I was capturing traces, you know,
114
315260
2191
05:17
this thought comes to me always:
115
317475
2785
05:20
is it, only when the object touches the thing and it leaves the trace,
116
320260
3000
05:23
or is there other ways to capture it?"
117
323260
2000
05:25
So this work is nothing but like --
118
325260
2000
05:27
because of the focal length of the lens,
119
327260
2000
05:29
it just shows what is on the other side.
120
329260
3000
05:33
So I just put the paper on the focal length,
121
333260
2096
05:35
which was an etching print,
122
335380
1880
05:37
then I got the portrait of [the] sun from sunlight.
123
337260
3000
05:41
This is called "Dawn to Dawn."
124
341260
2000
05:43
What I did here, I just put like 10 feet [of] paper
125
343260
3000
05:46
then put a coconut rope,
126
346260
2000
05:48
and just burnt it.
127
348260
2000
05:50
So it took about 24 hours to get this line.
128
350260
2048
05:52
So wherever the fire is eating the paper,
129
352308
2000
05:54
that's what becomes the work --
130
354308
1952
05:56
detail.
131
356260
2000
06:02
Even though we have traces
132
362260
2000
06:04
when we try to understand them,
133
364260
3000
06:08
the perception and context
134
368260
2000
06:10
play a major role to understand it.
135
370260
2000
06:12
So do we really understand what it is,
136
372260
3000
06:15
or are we trying to get
137
375260
2000
06:17
what we think it is?
138
377260
2000
06:19
Then move towards questioning the perception
139
379260
2096
06:21
because, even though there are traces,
140
381380
1880
06:23
when you try to understand them, you know you play a major role.
141
383260
3048
06:26
So like let's say even a simple act.
142
386332
1928
06:28
How many of you saw a cow crossing in India
143
388260
3000
06:31
while you were coming from Bangalore to Mysore?
144
391260
2239
06:33
Can you just raise the hand?
145
393523
2737
06:36
If you just ask an opinion
146
396260
2000
06:38
of how, everyone can interpret it.
147
398260
3000
06:41
Like, let's say, if a schoolteacher says,
148
401260
2000
06:43
she'll simply say, "To get to the other side."
149
403260
2191
06:45
Why the cow was crossing the road, you know.
150
405475
2785
06:48
The answer can be so different if Potter said it.
151
408260
3000
06:51
He would say, "For the greater good."
152
411260
3000
06:54
Martin Luther King would say,
153
414260
2000
06:56
"I imagine a world where all cows will be free
154
416260
3000
06:59
to cross the road,
155
419260
2000
07:01
without having their motives called into question."
156
421260
3000
07:04
(Laughter)
157
424260
2000
07:06
Imagine Moses comes now, and he sees
158
426260
2000
07:08
the same cow walking around the street.
159
428260
2000
07:10
He would definitely say,
160
430260
2000
07:12
"God came down from heaven,
161
432260
3000
07:15
and he said unto the cow,
162
435260
3000
07:18
'Thou shalt cross the road.'
163
438260
3000
07:21
And cow crossed the road,
164
441260
2000
07:23
and there was much rejoicing as a holy cow."
165
443260
3000
07:26
(Laughter)
166
446260
2000
07:28
Freud would say,
167
448260
2000
07:30
"The fact that you're at all concerned
168
450260
2000
07:32
reveals your underlying sexual insecurity."
169
452260
3000
07:35
(Laughter)
170
455260
2000
07:37
If we ask Einstein,
171
457260
2000
07:39
he would say, "Whether the cow crossed the road,
172
459260
3000
07:42
or the road moved underneath the cow,
173
462260
2000
07:44
depends on your frame of reference."
174
464260
2000
07:46
(Laughter)
175
466260
2000
07:48
Or Buddha --
176
468260
2000
07:50
if he saw the same cow, he would say,
177
470260
2000
07:52
"Asking this question denies your own nature [as a] cow."
178
472260
3000
07:55
(Laughter)
179
475260
3000
07:58
So, what we see
180
478260
3000
08:01
is just what we think often,
181
481260
3000
08:04
and most of the time, we don't see what it is.
182
484260
3000
08:07
It just all depends on one's perception.
183
487260
3000
08:10
And context, what is really context?
184
490260
3000
08:13
You know, I could just show you this little piece of paper.
185
493260
3000
08:16
Because I always think meaning doesn't really exist.
186
496260
3000
08:21
The meaning of what we create in this world doesn't exist.
187
501260
2762
08:24
It's just created by the mind.
188
504046
2214
08:26
If you look at this piece of paper,
189
506260
3000
08:29
this is the breadth
190
509260
2000
08:31
and this is called length.
191
511260
2000
08:33
This is how we've been taught in school.
192
513260
3000
08:37
But if you tear it in the middle --
193
517260
3000
08:40
now, I didn't touch this breadth,
194
520260
2000
08:42
but still, the meaning of this changes.
195
522260
2000
08:44
So what we conceive as a meaning
196
524260
2000
08:46
is always not there;
197
526260
2000
08:48
it's on the other side,
198
528260
2000
08:50
even when we say dark, light,
199
530260
2000
08:52
good, bad, tall, short --
200
532260
2000
08:54
all meaning it doesn't exist in reality.
201
534260
3000
08:57
It's just that being a human,
202
537260
2000
08:59
the way we train to perceive the reality
203
539260
3000
09:02
creates this meaning.
204
542260
2000
09:04
So this work from this period
205
544260
2000
09:06
is mostly like --
206
546260
2000
09:08
you know, this is a work called "Light Makes Dark."
207
548260
2429
09:10
It's just captured through from the lamp.
208
550713
2547
09:13
So the lamp is not just giving a light, it's also giving a darkness.
209
553260
3239
09:16
So this is a work of art, which is just trying to explore that.
210
556523
3000
09:20
This is called "Limit Out."
211
560260
2000
09:22
This shows how limited our eye or hearing sense or touch --
212
562260
3000
09:25
do we really see?
213
565260
2000
09:27
This is an exact negative.
214
567260
2000
09:29
It's about six inches deep in the wall,
215
569260
2000
09:31
but it just appears like it's coming out of the wall.
216
571260
3000
09:37
You know the wall is almost like --
217
577260
2000
09:39
this is the first skin, and this is the second,
218
579260
2239
09:41
and there's a third, and each creates a meaning.
219
581499
2286
09:43
And we're just pulling the wall off the gallery.
220
583809
2451
09:46
Again, "Inward Out."
221
586260
2000
09:48
It's a full-figure cast from myself.
222
588260
2000
09:50
It's about eight inches deep.
223
590260
3000
09:56
When I was doing that, I always wondered since I've worked with creators --
224
596260
3000
09:59
and now you know, I've moved to questioning the perception --
225
599260
3000
10:02
whenever I see the bird flying in the sky,
226
602260
3000
10:05
it just makes me feel like:
227
605260
3000
10:08
is there anything behind, are there any traces up there,
228
608260
3000
10:11
which as a human, we don't see them?
229
611260
3000
10:14
Is there any way to capture the thought
230
614260
3000
10:17
into visual art?
231
617260
3000
10:20
I couldn't find it.
232
620260
2000
10:23
But a solution arrived
233
623260
3000
10:26
after being quiet and not working for about six, seven months,
234
626260
3000
10:29
in the restroom,
235
629260
2000
10:31
when I was changing the air freshener
236
631260
3000
10:34
that goes from solid substance to vapor.
237
634260
2000
10:36
It's called Odonil.
238
636260
2000
10:38
This is the work I made out of that material.
239
638260
3000
10:42
The process to get to make the sculpture was interesting,
240
642260
2667
10:44
because I wrote to Balsara,
241
644951
1309
10:46
who produces that air freshener called Odonil,
242
646260
2000
10:48
saying, "Dear Sir, I am an artist. This is my catalogue.
243
648260
2000
10:50
Will you help me to make this sculpture?"
244
650260
2000
10:52
They never wrote back to me.
245
652260
2000
10:54
Then I thought, "I will go to the Small Scale Industries
246
654260
3000
10:57
Facilitating Unit and ask help."
247
657260
2000
10:59
So I told them, "I'd like to start an air freshener company."
248
659260
3000
11:03
They said, "Of course.
249
663260
2000
11:05
This is the fee for the project report,
250
665260
2000
11:07
and we will give you all the details," and they gave.
251
667260
2524
11:09
Finally, I went back to them and said,
252
669808
2452
11:12
"It's not for starting the company, it's just to make my own work.
253
672260
3143
11:15
Please come for the show."
254
675427
1833
11:17
And they did.
255
677260
2000
11:19
And this work is in the Devi Art Foundation in Delhi.
256
679260
3000
11:22
In India, nobody really talks about works of art;
257
682260
3000
11:25
they always talk about the appreciation of art.
258
685260
3000
11:28
You buy this for 3,000 rupees,
259
688260
2000
11:30
it'll become 30,000 in two months.
260
690260
2000
11:32
This is the craft that was going on,
261
692260
2000
11:34
but there are a few collectors
262
694260
2000
11:36
who also collect art which can depreciate.
263
696260
2000
11:38
And this was collected by Anupam --
264
698260
2000
11:40
which is like, finally in the end, he will not have anything,
265
700260
2905
11:43
because it will evaporate.
266
703189
2000
11:46
So this is after a few weeks,
267
706260
3000
11:49
this is after a few months.
268
709260
2000
11:51
It's just all about questioning the preconceptions.
269
711260
3000
11:54
So if someone says, "Oh, I see the portrait,"
270
714260
3000
11:57
it may not be the portrait after a few months.
271
717260
2191
11:59
And if they say it's solid,
272
719475
1785
12:01
it will not be solid, it will evaporate.
273
721260
3000
12:04
And if they say they don't get it,
274
724260
2000
12:06
that's also not true,
275
726260
2000
12:08
because it's in the air.
276
728260
2000
12:10
It's in the same gallery or in the same museum.
277
730260
2239
12:12
So they inhaled it,
278
732523
1737
12:14
but they are not aware of it.
279
734260
3000
12:17
While I was doing that work,
280
737260
2000
12:19
my mom and my dad,
281
739260
2000
12:21
they were looking at it and they said,
282
741260
2000
12:23
"Why do you deal with negative subjects all the time?"
283
743260
3000
12:26
And I was like, "What do you mean?"
284
746260
2000
12:28
"Light makes dark and now evaporating self.
285
748260
3000
12:31
Don't you think it remained something about death," they said.
286
751260
3000
12:34
"Of course not. For me," I'm thinking,
287
754260
2000
12:36
"this is tucked in some small solid,
288
756260
2000
12:38
but the moment it evaporates,
289
758260
2000
12:40
it's merged with the whole."
290
760260
2000
12:42
But she said, "No. Still, I don't like it.
291
762260
2000
12:44
Can you make something from nothing
292
764260
2000
12:46
as a sculptor?"
293
766260
2000
12:48
I said, "No, mom. It can't be.
294
768260
2000
12:50
Because we can create
295
770260
3000
12:53
a sculpture
296
773260
2000
12:55
by gathering dust together,
297
775260
2000
12:57
or we can break the sculpture and get the dust,
298
777260
3000
13:00
but there is nowhere that we can bring dust into the universe."
299
780260
3000
13:03
So, I did this work for her.
300
783260
3000
13:06
It's called "Emerging Angel."
301
786260
2000
13:08
This is the first day --
302
788260
2000
13:10
it just gives the appearance
303
790260
2000
13:12
that one is becoming the other.
304
792260
2000
13:14
So, the same sculpture
305
794260
2000
13:16
after a few days.
306
796260
2000
13:20
This is after 15/20 days.
307
800260
3000
13:23
Through that small little slit
308
803260
2000
13:25
between the glass box and the wood,
309
805260
2000
13:27
the air goes underneath the sculpture and creates the other one.
310
807260
3048
13:30
This gave me a greater faith.
311
810332
1928
13:32
That evaporating sculpture gave me a greater faith
312
812260
3000
13:35
that maybe there is many more possibilities
313
815260
2048
13:37
to capture [the] invisible.
314
817332
1928
13:39
So what you see now
315
819260
2000
13:41
is called "Shadow Foreshadow."
316
821260
3000
13:44
And what I'd like to tell you
317
824260
2000
13:46
is we don't see shadow, and we don't see light too;
318
826260
3000
13:49
we see the source of the light.
319
829260
2000
13:51
We see where it's bouncing, but we don't see [them] as they exist.
320
831260
3143
13:54
You know, that's why the night sky, we see the sky as dark,
321
834427
2833
13:57
but it's filled with light all the time.
322
837260
2000
13:59
When it's bounced on the moon, we see it.
323
839260
2000
14:01
The same thing in the darkroom.
324
841260
2000
14:03
The little dust particle will again, reflect the light,
325
843260
3000
14:06
and we realize the existence of light.
326
846260
2000
14:08
So we don't see dark, we don't see light,
327
848260
3000
14:11
we don't see gravity, we don't see electricity.
328
851260
3000
14:14
So, I just started doing this work
329
854260
3000
14:17
to inquire further
330
857260
3000
14:20
about how to sculpt
331
860260
2000
14:22
the space between this object and there.
332
862260
3000
14:25
Because, as a visual artist, if I'm seeing this and I'm seeing that --
333
865260
3334
14:28
but how to sculpt this, you know?
334
868618
2642
14:31
If we sculpt this, this has two reference points.
335
871260
3000
14:34
The skin of this is also representing this.
336
874260
3000
14:37
And skin at the other end also represents the floor.
337
877260
3000
14:40
I did this as an experiment
338
880260
3000
14:43
of casting the shadow.
339
883260
2000
14:45
So this is a corrugated box and its shadow.
340
885260
3000
14:48
Then the second one --
341
888260
2000
14:50
the moment you bring any invisible into the visible world
342
890260
3000
14:53
it will have all the characteristics of the visible existence.
343
893260
3000
14:56
So that produced a shadow.
344
896260
2000
14:58
Then I thought, okay, let me sculpt that.
345
898260
2000
15:00
Then, again, that becomes an object.
346
900260
2000
15:02
Again, throwing light, then the third one.
347
902260
3000
15:05
So what you see is nothing but shadow
348
905260
2000
15:07
of a shadow of a shadow.
349
907260
2000
15:09
And then again, at that point, there is no shadow.
350
909260
3000
15:12
I thought, "Oh, good. Work is finished."
351
912260
3000
15:16
You can see the detail.
352
916260
2000
15:22
This is called "Gravity."
353
922260
2000
15:29
It's called "Breath." It's just two holes on the gallery wall.
354
929260
3000
15:32
It's a false wall, which contains
355
932260
2000
15:34
like 110 cubic feet.
356
934260
2000
15:36
So that hole actually
357
936260
2000
15:38
makes the air come out and go in.
358
938260
3000
15:41
So where it's happening, we can see,
359
941260
2000
15:43
but what is happening will remain invisible only.
360
943260
2334
15:45
This is from the show called "Invisible," at Talwar Gallery.
361
945594
3000
15:48
This is called "Kaayam."
362
948594
1666
15:50
Detail.
363
950260
2000
15:55
And what I'd like to tell you,
364
955260
3000
15:58
our senses are so limited --
365
958260
2000
16:00
we cannot hear everything, we cannot see everything.
366
960260
2000
16:02
We don't feel, "I am touching the air,"
367
962260
2000
16:04
but if the breeze is a little more faster, then I can feel it.
368
964260
3000
16:08
So all of our construction of reality
369
968260
3000
16:11
is through these limited senses.
370
971260
2000
16:13
So my request was like,
371
973260
2000
16:15
is there any way to use all this
372
975260
2000
16:17
as just a symbol or a sign?
373
977260
3000
16:21
And to really get to the point,
374
981260
2000
16:23
we should move beyond, you know,
375
983260
2000
16:25
go to the other side of the wall, like illogic,
376
985260
2239
16:27
like are invisible.
377
987523
1737
16:29
Because when we see someone walks, we see the footprint.
378
989260
2000
16:31
But if we're just cutting that footprint from the whole thing and trying to analyze it,
379
991260
3000
16:34
you will miss the point
380
994260
2000
16:36
because the actual journey happens between those footprints,
381
996260
3000
16:39
and the footprints are nothing but passing time.
382
999260
2286
16:41
Thank you.
383
1001570
1690
16:43
(Applause)
384
1003260
2000
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7