Artist Prabhakar Singh displays murals, sculptures and installations made from intricate pieces in his show Ensemble

Little things make big things happen. This famous adage perfectly describes artist Prabhakar Singh’s ideology for creating life-size installations, which are made from using smaller pieces of iron, brass, bronze, ceramic and wood. More than 100 of his works, which range from six inches to 11 feet, are on display as part of the ongoing exhibition, Ensemble, at Colaba’s Jehangir Art Gallery. They comprise murals, sculptures and wall hangings.

While the smaller subjects of four to six inches reflect the daily activities of people, a 25-work series comprises mini sculptures that are mounted on canvas and depict the nav rasas. The larger subjects measuring 18 inches to 11 feet represent the human mind while the final series is based on masks that reflect facial expressions in myriad forms.

For this show, he has created a series called Heads, which portrays the human mind’s inner working. He says, “The biggest installation is an 11-feet female head that has been made using 5,000 small iron flowers and leaves.”

He adds that he likes to explore two sides of the human form — the inner as well as the outer self. “The outer image is punctured, so that you can understand the internal process. The former represents the physical form that is visible to the world while the latter depicts what goes on in a person’s mind.”

He states that it took him a year-and-a-half to create all the works. “It’s a time-consuming technique and one needs to have a lot of patience. I start off by sourcing the right material, then make small pieces from them, set them in mould and weld. One wrong step and you need to start all over again,” elaborates the artist.

A HUMBLE START

Prabhakar, who hails from a family of farmers in Bhagalpur, Bihar, informs that his rural background has played an instrumental role in his artistic career. “My father used to work in rice fields and we used to process the harvest on clay chulhas. My mother would make these as well as murals and rice containers. I have been hugely inspired by her. The clay in the fields was ideal for making figurines. I used to make cars, tape recorders and other items from them. I enjoyed the process thoroughly. Soon, they turned into terracotta sculptures,” he says.

Prabhakar eventually went on to complete his diploma in Art, Bachelor in Fine Arts from Benaras Hindu University, followed by his Masters degree in stone carving and metal casting, both as a gold medallist. The award-winning artist, whose sculptures are displayed at several public locations and are part of private collections around the country and abroad likes to stay close to his roots and wants to continue with the same process. “However, I aspire to make a life-size figure as big as the Statue of Liberty some day,” he signs off.

Ensemble is on at Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda till June 18 from 11 am-7 pm.