Precious paper

Feast your eyes on Sharwari Tilloo's papier mache sculptures, Abhimanyu Nohwar's paper lighting installations, Shankar Chandra's paper sculptures and Shivaram Narayanan's origami work at an exhibition in Olive Beach, starting tomorrow

Of paper and dreams: Paper comes to life at this exhibition by four artists

MedMosaic at Olive Beach is a series of evenings of cutting edge design that will bring together artists from across the country. The first MedMosaic evening called Paper Plane has four artists from all over India who work exclusively with paper, transforming perhaps the most common and consumed media, into brilliant pieces of visual art. The exhibition aims to grasp the rarely acknowledged materiality of paper, bringing to light its precise aesthetic and multi-dimensionality. MiD DAY profiles two of the four artists, Shivaram Narayanan and Shankar Chandra.

'Anyone can do it'

Interested in photography and sculpting from his school days, Shankar Chandra started sculpting with clay and eventually moving onto wood, wires and paper. He believes every medium has its own characteristics and limitations and one should know what to work with depending on the idea and feasibility. Mostly drawn to people, he enjoys working with them in his photography or sculpting.u00a0

"Talent for photography is not inborn nor is it difficult to develop. If I can do it, you can do it," he insists.

Shankar is now trying to de-contextualise the fundamental nature of things with his latest sculpture and photography exhibits. He feels empathy is a very strong quality that's required to be a good photographer and he strives to bring in many layers of meaning to his work. "There's the extreme where all aspects of a photograph are controlled and, at the other end there are photos that look like they've been taken impulsively.

I'm trying to balance the two." Shankar claims he's not an impulsive photographer. He takes his time to ponder and plan what he wants to do and is sure of what the end result should be.u00a0

Shankar Chandra teaches at AJK Mass Communications Research Institute, Delhi, where he also did his masters.
He also carries the tag of a cinematographer. He's been working with organisations that work with special children and contributes his expertise in design and communications. He recently participated in a group art show called A Wonderful World, proceeds from which went towards the education of children with special needs.

Fold in, fold out

Barely 20 years old, Shivram Narayanan started playing with paper at the age of five. Like any other five-year-old, he learnt Origami from the books his parents gave him. Currently pursuing a degree in music, he's interested in all art forms and also did a course in pottery. When 16-year-olds were busy worrying about girlfriends, Shivram went ahead and published his first book on Origami titled Fold In, Fold Out. What's more, he even has more than 100 creations to his name. "I developed the interest as a kid and it's something I like doing. I want to do something in the same field in the future," says Shivram. His first exhibition was at the age of nine in Chennai and now he conducts workshops across the country. He believes that introducing the art and spreading the message would help create awareness and make Origami known in India.u00a0

Sharwari Tilloo's papier mache sculptures and Abhimanyu Nohwar's paper lighting installations are on display along with Shankar Chandra's paper sculptures and photographs and Shivaram Narayanan's Origami work. The exhibition of the artists' works will be displayed at Olive Beach on July 31, and August 1, 2009.u00a0u00a0