In her debut solo in the city, a Baroda-based artist creates sculptures and 3D paintings using honeybee wax
Bhagyashree Suthar
If you drop in at Akara Art Gallery in Colaba, you’ll come face to face with an installation that looks like a mesh of a conch shell and a fish with curved fins and a striking geometric design. In another corner sits an orb studded with triangular patterns. Take a closer look and you’ll realise that they are actually made of beeswax, derived from honeycomb. These sculptures, along with beeswax paintings, are part of Baroda-based artist Bhagyashree Suthar’s debut solo, Fractal Future.
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A recent graduate from MS University of Baroda, the 25-year-old artist was introduced to beeswax as a medium when she experimented with encaustic painting, where heated pigmented wax is applied over a wooden surface. It was a technique practised by Renaissance artists. “Though I was unable to get the same effect, I discovered that I could use beeswax to create sculptures and paintings on paper too,” informs Suthar, who has used close to three kilos of beeswax, sourced from her native state of Rajasthan, in the paintings and six kilos of it in the sculptures.
“Beeswax is smooth and gives a nice shine to the works. The surface allows me to carve intricate designs. Layers of beeswax also present a 3D-like effect,” shares the artist, who takes over a month to create sculptures, which involves creating a basic structure with iron mesh, covering it with plaster-of-Paris bandages, applying heated beeswax and later, shaping, carving and designing it. Suthar starts making the paintings by drawing the design on paper. She pastes it over a display board, pours layers of molten pigmented wax (mixed with candle wax colours) over it, and then, scrapes them to create 3D effect with shapes and designs.
Till November 30, 11 am to 7 pm (closed on Sundays)
At Akara Art Gallery, Churchill Chambers, 32 Mereweather Road, Colaba
Call22025550
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