#avnibansal printmaker visualarts artamidstcorona workfromhome sculptor artistsinquarantine indianart emergingartists pandemic void

[priyasriartgallery]

It was refreshing to hear out Avni Bansal thoughts on the Current times : The Covid-19 Pandemic.

The whole idea of social distancing has provided my thoughts a shelter to live in. Solitude is a place where the creative mind wants to eagerly express itself because you are able to disengage from the demands of other people and the world around you. I am scared, I am scared of the loneliness and isolation which will haunt me eventually. The idea of a virtual world, can never fill up the gap of in-person conversations and physical bond. I am scared of the falls in the economy, reading stories about how it is difficult for the daily wage workers, migrants to make their ends meet,and supporting their families is disappointing. The health care systems are collapsing as the no. of cases are rising day by day worldwide.

Little smrky yet important observations on my end for the time being - I have lost a few kilos and my skin has improved,it is radiating as I am able to give time to all aspects of my way of living. - I have come to know that my brother actually cooks well and he is great at swiping the floor too. - In the span of 28 years of me staying with my family, I have seen my father for the first time sitting and operating his clinic from home and both my parents have developed a habit of watching one hindi movie each day. - The sky looks blue and I am able to see stars now from my rooftop. - Various freelance artists and design firms are engaging with the public via going live on instagram, explaining the processes, teaching the methods of creation. - I have been talking to friends who are staying alone in their residence and are able to cope up with the limitations and bounding by themselves. - People have been sending me photographs of the dishes they are preparing in their home kitchens, enjoying the home cooked food. - I see my neighbors standing in the balconies with music in the background talking to others. We humans tend to fill up our minds with new voids for regular distractions- Voids that harass you, Voids that leave you deviated, Deviated from those sceptical realities. Voids,that make you think insane. Insane to the extent that, your mind is crppled, Voids, that leave you unbothered, Unbothered even of your own existence. Voids, that provide you an empty space, A space,to be refilled again. Refilled again with those anonymous thoughts, Anonymous enough to be left unattended, Slowly disappearing to become a new void.

Avni Bansal as a print-maker and sculptor, probes the lines of separation between 'high-art' and craft- forms through the visual tool of design. She tries to understand this crucial relationship by re-looking at the Art and Crafts Movement in London initiated by William Morris and John Ruskin. Using wit and humour, she weaves her quest for abstraction through critical theoretical frameworks of mass/ popular culture and the phenomena of folk and tribal by appropriation and re-contextualization of motifs and forms. She has done her bacholers from College of Art,Delhi and master's from M.S.U, Faculty of Fine Arts,in 2016 securing a gold medal. She has been shown both in India and abroad, International Biennale of Small Graphics,Inter-Art Foundation, Romania,2016; Stree Drishti- Contemporary Women Printmakers of India at Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Art and Design,Poland and Regional Museum Gudalajara, Mexico, 2019; 8th Sofia Print Triennale, Bulgaria 2020. She has also bagged the National Award, 56th National Exhibition of Art, Lalit Kala Akademi in 2015.

Priyasri Patodia AQPriyasri-The Artist Studio Priyasri Artgallery Carpe Arte Mumbai Mumbai Midtown Arts Collective