Inspiration, Intention and Interpretation: G. Ravinder Reddy’s Sculptures

INSPIRATION, INTENTION AND INTERPRETATION: G. RAVINDER REDDY’S SCULPTURES

U20109

Anupa Mehta gave us the unique perspective of G. Ravinder Reddy’s artwork as a curator, as opposed to how usually we have artists talking about their work, and in this description of the exhibition ‘Rasa’ curated by them, I could witness the minutiae and the subtle growth of the artist throughout.

Reddy’s sculptures capture the tiny details of facial features, hair and form very cleverly, and in a way that is culturally and regionally specific and significant. The hair strands are depicted as though they have been combed and oiled, and the ornamentation of hair is done with flowers in a typical Indian fashion. Although influenced by classical Indian sculptures and African, Asian, and Mayan artwork, Reddy manages to be in touch with contemporary times and also have vernacular references. This is even more striking to me at this point because in Tackling a Design Problem, the exercise we are doing right now in studio, we have to come up with a design for a shelter or a space for a potter staying in the Gir forest. At first, the ideas that were coming to my mind while doing so were very blocky, rectangular structures, but after watching this lecture again, I too want to incorporate different vernacular forms of architecture in my design while also being inspired by other elements.

Another major component of Reddy’s work, from what I could perceive, was the emphasis on facial features, as in, the eyes are larger than life, the nose and mouth are jutting out, and the lips are tinted using a very bright colour. The intention of his work is monumentality, shown by the scale of his sculptures, some which are 5 ft tall, and also how the stylization of the eyes and nose resemble sculptures of temples. There is also a subtle commentary of class and caste done using just the embellishment of hair. The symmetry and stoic expression of the faces of these female sculptures can perhaps signify how women are perceived by others, like objects with no agency of their own. Whether Reddy is complacent in this or is drawing attention to it, is something that puzzles me.

Looking at sculptures using terracotta and polyester resin fiberglass as a medium, it is clearly seen how the latter is more malleable and how well paint takes to it. One thing that I noted was how with the change of medium, even the form

captured in the sculpture changed. The hair, the lips and even the eyes are not as exaggerated in the terracotta bust as they are in the polyester resin fiberglass sculptures. Even the colours used in the terracotta bust are more subtle and closer to life than the bright colours of the polyester resin fiberglass sculptures. This showed me how important a role medium plays when depicting a certain form of art, because despite having a certain specific style and interpreting the same thing - a human face - as a sculpture, Reddy’s work is quite different when compared to each other.