Method makes its debut at the India Art Fair 2024, presenting a curation of artists from across the globe and homegrown, who explore the interconnectedness of time with a lens on what could, would, and perhaps will be. The artist selection presents a mix of names established in the field, alongside some emerging ones. In the past, each of these six artists had explored aesthetics, materials, and visions of the future. “Whenever we talk about the future, transformation, and possibility, there are always those who embrace it and dive into it headfirst and those who approach it with caution or reluctance. People will either love it, because it’s so different from everything else at the fair, or they’ll hate it for the same reason,” says Sahil Arora, founder and curator of Method.
Self-taught visual artist from Spain, J. Demsky, started his creative journey by immersing himself in the graffiti boom in the early 1990s. A pioneer of the burgeoning neo-futurist movement, he has sprayed in more than 50 countries. In the 2000s, he moved on to paintings, and now sculptures. “There is a burgeoning culture of futurism and design aesthetics in Europe right now, and to show a sample of that in Delhi is extremely exciting,” he says.
Creative entrepreneur and designer Kunel Gaur works in areas like digital art, typography, and AR. Gaur’s body of work sits at the intersection of brutalism and cyberpunk, with a profound nod to Japanese visual culture. He collects various elements on his travels, including products, stationery, signage, street art, electricals, packaging, printed material, and hardware. The pieces are deconstructed bricolages made in metal steel and hardware, painted over with oil. His street ecosystem is a menagerie of retail spaces, homes, schools, hospitals, libraries, flower shops, art museums, cafes, and general stores. “The assemblage work celebrates my influences from architecture, functional design, futurism, and photography,” says Gaur.
Goa-based surrealist Rohan Joglekar’s work explores several social, political, and ecological themes. Deeply influenced by nature, he started his career as a designer in Auroville. Thereafter, he created illustrations, murals, sculptures, and merchandise while developing his painterly skills. Joglekar’s painting for the exhibition emerges from the visual language of Happy in the Hippocampus, his debut solo show at Method last year. “The Void sets the stage for our transition to a secular global society and questions how we choose to fill the gaps left in our collective human experience,” he explains.
Sri Lankan artist Kumkum Fernando is the son of an antiques and curiosities collector. For decades, he has been collecting stones, spoons, statues, ostrich eggs and other ancient marvels. Fernando derives inspiration from his heritage, including ornate temple paintings, Hindu mythology, and folktales. Vietnam’s cultural reclamation also informs his art. Fernando conjures one-of-a-kind sculptures, called Post Colonial Rainbow Punks, created from objects that he found on the streets of Saigon. His sculptures use ancient doors, shutters, window frames, and other wooden treasures. The series is part of his ongoing exploration of the link between East Asian history and modern culture.
Jan Kaláb is one of Czechoslo-vakia’s most notable contemporary artists. A founding pioneer of the Prague underground graffiti and street art scene, Kaláb has exhibited his work in high-profile galleries around the world. Shapes and vibrant tones are the main characteristics of his work, which has evolved into 3-D graffiti, light-suspended installations, animated NFTs, paintings, and sculptures. New Delhi-based multidisciplinary artist Ashna Malik uses a combination of traditional and digital media to push the boundaries. Through stimulating paintings and interactive projections, she challenges the viewer’s perception of what they see and understand. In her work for the exhibition, dynamic lines and vibrant colours create movement and distortion through optical play. “These works explore newer patterns, colours, and shapes, keeping things exciting for me as well as the viewer,” says Malikg
