Sheela Gowda’s current work on display is her first showing in the UK, an artist from Bangalore, whose career started as a painter and now lies within sculpture and installation, currently has two works on display at INIVA (Institute Of International Visual Arts), Rivington Place.
Collateral (2007) is one of her older works which sits in the gallery space on the third floor. This piece was made by rolling, arranging and burning incense onto mesh frames to produce intricate patterns. There are three different sizes of mesh frames which suggest notions of masculine, feminine and childlike like shapes, in relation to each other and independently they draw conversation and rhythm. The elongated feminine rectangular mesh frames are decorated loosely with curves in contrast with the quite controlled and hearty shapes of the masculine mesh. With the smaller childlike pieces being composed of both decorative concepts. The piece is impressive from an aesthetic point of view but with the added layer of perception and the fact of the fragility of this piece it becomes a stronger and more interesting work.
On the lower, street level floor which is built of 3 concrete and a glass wall that looks out onto the street lies her new piece ‘Untitled’ . This piece is layered and scattered with thousands of wooden chips which on closer inspection reveals that they are in fact small pieces of carved wood loosely animated with faces, each one unique. These wooden chips are then placed in situations illustrating varying concepts of the human condition. An upside down elephant is succumbed by hundreds on its belly suggesting notions of fundamentalism and national identity. Gowda’s work is also sculpture heavy, on the left wall sits windows and doors painted in pastel colours which on the other side of the gallery are deconstructed and hang from the ceiling providing a platform, heightening the wooden chips. This piece is well crafted and conceptualised.
Together these pieces provide a great insight into her work.
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