Atul Bhalla: On the Edge
© © Atul Bhall, Rupture 2018
02:38
As an artist / photographer what do you question through your work and why?
“I try to question how we have come to live
How we have become accustomed to it
How we don't question anything anymore
How we keep on tolerating every excess
How truth was
How we covet violence
How we other
and
How we actually know what we do!
>> Visit the exhibition: On the Edge
On the Edge
My work is an attempt to understand water.
How I perceive it, feel it, eat it, drink it, wash in it, bathe in it, swim, wade, sink or will drown in it.
How I drench, soak, douse, moisten, quench, dilute, dampen, cleanse, or purify.
How I excrete tears, sweat, or urine.
How it falls, drops, floods, inundates, levels, buoys, lashes, gushes, swells and ripples.
How it exists as fog, mist, cloud, steam, snow, sleet, rain, or puddle. How it contains or is contained.
How it is dammed or bottled.
Having been working with water and its meanings in India and at locations outside for a number of years, immersing myself in researching the values associated with water, in all its forms: as drink, as rivers, canals, lakes and
reservoirs, sea and estuaries, as an object of value and precious resource, and as carrier of our refuse and filth.
For me the history of humanity can be told in terms of a history of water, its carriers , its bodies and as it bears witness to our excesses resulting in near droughts, deluges and inundations.
© Atul Bhalla
>> Visit the exhibition: On the Edge
About Atul Bhalla
Atul Bhalla has explored the physical, historical, and political significance of water in the urban environment of New Delhi through artworks that incorporate sculpture, painting, installation, video, photography, and performance.
His recent solo shows include ‘Anhedonic Dehiscence’ Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi 2018, ‘You always step into the same river’ SepaiEYE New York 2015 ‘On the Edge’ and ‘Ya Ki Kuch aur …’Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi .2011 and 2014 respectively. Water Works, Grossman Gallery. Lafayette College. Easton. PA. USA. Curation- Donna Gustafsson 2011.
He was also the Mellon Artist Research Africa fellow at WITS University 2018, Johannesburg with the project ‘The Excavated distance of gold’ examining acid mine drainage at the gold mines. Recent group exhibitions have brought his work to FotoFest Biennale Houston in 2016 and 2108, The Pompidou center, Paris, the IVAM Institute of Modern Art in Valencia, and the Devi Art Foundation in New Delhi.
He is has shown his photographic work ‘Yamuna Walk’ at the Fukuoka Triennale 2011 and within “Other and me “Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah 2014 and with
“Walk On” From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff - 40 years of art-walking, Curated by Cynthia Morrison-Bell, at NGCA Sunderland.UK.
West Heavens, Place –Time- Play: India China Contemporary Art, curated by Chaitanya Sambrani, Shanghai China. 2010
Installation of ‘I was not waving but drowning-II’ at Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, 2010-April and the video installation “Adrift”( On the Dvaipayana) at the Light-Box Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard in 2018.
His work was also part of the first Kuala Lumpur Biennale 2017.
He is currenly on a one year project on climate change in India on the 28N parallel
Through World Weather Network and Khoj.
He has published two books on his performative works, ‘Yamuna Walk’ University of Washington press, Seattle and London and “What will be my Defeat?’ GFLK Galerie für Landschaftskunst Hamburg,
And an extensive analysis of his work can be found in
’You always step into the same river.” Vadehra Art Gallery Publications
He lives and works in New Delhi.
Atul Bhalla: http://www.atulbhalla.com/
>> Visit the exhibition: On the Edge