If Bengaluru had an official city art tour, Romicon Revola would have her own bus! A practicing Bangalore based sculptor, Revola has made her mark in several landmarks across the city, including Cubbon Park as well as Business Parks like Manyata Embassy, Kirloskar, Embassy Golf Links and others. She has been a part of over 30 exhibitions and has a number of awards to her name. She studied in San Francisco before working as an apprentice to an American sculptor who worked mostly with large scale pieces. Eventually, she found herself creating works in a large format with complete ease.
Unlike many artists, Revola moved from large to smaller scale works over the span of her practice. Romicon Revola loves to try new things in everything she creates. She brings an element of experimentation into each piece reflected in her choice of medium and form. Her most recent piece, yet to be inaugurated, is a large scale steel work for Shell. With works of this scale and medium, an artist can no longer work in isolation. “People management is a huge part of my work” she says.
Over a decade, she has developed the skills to articulate and execute her vision, which involves working with her production teams. “Conceiving an idea is only one step of the process. Translating ideas that are in my head is second nature to me now but even so, things always go wrong. That’s part of the fun – and the challenge – of my process.”
Revolva has worked primarily with large scale steel installations for the formative part of her practice. The series, ‘Golden Bough’, saw her break away from this. The series included small to medium format works, using a hybrid of organic and synthetic materials like turmeric, fabric, latex and sponge. “Something in the way I viewed and worked with metal changed, after that.” In Cosmic Bloom, this development is evident in the more fluid and airy forms rendered in steel and bronze. Revola’s work has always focussed on nature as a primary theme, as well as the effects of urbanity on the natural environment. She uses the butterfly as a recurring motif, a creature that symbolises a balanced environment. The butterfly is in her Cubbon Park sculpture as well as in the Cosmic Bloom series.
In 2018, she participated in a digital art show, supported by the Bajaj Foundation. ‘Future is Here’ was curated by art historian Arshiya Lokahndwala. Revola takes her experience as a sculptor to new heights, creating an immersive installation based on an interactive selfie app, titled #WhorU’. The installation is a commentary on the ‘selfie culture’, pointing out that India has the highest number of selfie deaths in the world. Her enquiry as an artist is not limited to social issues but addresses environmental concerns as well. Her videos, for instance, use audio footage to start a dialogue around the crises we experience as a city, in relation to our natural environment. She recently won the CIMA Infosys Special Award 2019 from CIMA Gallery, Kolkata for her video art piece called ‘Where Have The Birds Gone’.
