Experiments in art

Working with different materials in her art pieces each time, Smriti Dixit ensures that every exhibit is different than the last. The artist who is known for her abstract mixed media works draws inspiration from various day-to-day experiences.

Her current exhibition — Feasting and Fasting, captures the main behaviour of Indians. “This exhibition is a culmination of years of pondering for answers to questions that have sprung up within me. My inspiration is the middle class, who are always balancing the everyday mundane with the other worldly. We are always in a state of feasting or fasting. All our religious festivals are governed by either one or the other, and this for me was the starting point from which I explored this body of work,” she says.

 Her Nest series portrays the adaptability of the birds. “I noticed a bird's nest in an industry area and the bird had used thermocol, visiting cards, cardboard, plastic clips and other available bits to humbly build the nest and I found that very fascinating and incorporated that in my exhibit,” she says, adding that her own ‘nests’ are created with plastic loops to show the effects of industrialisation. Another work titled Red Quilt, is made of different cloths, toys available outside temples, stuffed with synthetic wool to look ripe, adds Smriti who’s working with such large canvases for the first time. She admits that each piece took around three months to complete and she feels that this exhibit shows a certain amount of maturity.  Referring to the materials she says, “My works are created using any material that I can lay my hands on, with which I feel I can have a dialogue. It could be fabric, found objects, plastic price tags, buddhist prayer flags among others. My process involves an almost repetitive rhythm of stitching, embedding, and weaving.” As for her next exhibit, she wants to explore the concepts of sound, smell and video.