Artist Spotlight

ARTTIST SPOTLIGHT

Siddarth Choudhar y: The Outside and the Other

Zachery Thompson

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

What separates us from one another? Siddharth Choudhary explores the isolating effects of our current political climate through the lens of immigration and personal othering. Born in Mumbai, India, Choudhary came to Boston by way of Hong Kong and Paris. While in Hong Kong, he discovered the artistic potential of digital art. His style is composed of quick marks and strokes made with a stylus on a screen. His pieces are eventually printed on a canvas, and they seem as if they were thickly painted, yet he achieves these spectacular effects entirely with digital software. Choudhary’s most recent series, “Too Much Color,” has been a response not only to critics but also to the quarantine and the protests for racial justice that continue across the country. Digital art is seen by many as separate from the fine arts canon. Despite this prejudice, Choudhary is proud of his medium. He has found that it allows him to work quickly and expressively, where he finds traditional mediums confining. At the same time, he goes against the common perception that digital is smooth and clean, creating quick gestural movements and almost doodlelike compositions. To show his pride in his medium, Choudhary places his subjects in a white void, the default of most digital software. This also allows the viewer to devote their attention exclusively to the figures of his pieces.

“Self Portrait as an Alien” is an evocative piece. It depicts Choudhary as a monster with three drooping eyes, teeth bursting out from his jaw at odd angles, and a propeller sprouting from his head. The colors are vibrant and unnatural. His hair is a slimy turquoise, and red lines wriggle across his face. The only color he does not change in this work is his skin, which remains warm and brown. He stares out at the audience, three eyes unblinking, with little movement as if this were a photo.

“Metamorphosis” explores the theme of othering in America through the use of the most recognizable symbol of the country. It depicts a stylized American flag, although the blue field where the stars reside has been painted a warm brown. It is pushed out of alignment with the stripes, and seems to be trying to make its way back into the iconic configuration. The orderly rows of red and white stripes, on the other hand, are attempting to crowd out the stars, but are slowly being pushed back by the large scrawled stars and fleshy brown. Choudhary is also building every color in the piece up from black, leaving the white and red just translucent enough that they become less saturated and more muted.

“Parkour” has a more jovial, joking tone to it, but there are hints of worry and unease just beneath the surface. It depicts Choudhary jumping through the city as if shot from a fisheye lens; the flat, grey buildings surround him at odd angles, almost like a fence. This unusual perspective gives the painting a feeling of some sort of ad or extreme sports video. He seems to grin as he propels himself through the scene, hands pushing off a ledge, legs extended with his vibrant shoes leading the way. Strands of blue dance atop his head, tossed by wind or momentum. He looks at the viewer with a worried smile because he sees this piece as “a fantastical scenario, where I am being chased by ICE. I eventually disappear into the crowd forever.”

These works expose the breadth of how Choudhary sees otherness. Works such as “Parkour” and “SelfPortrait as an Alien” demonstrate the very personal way in which he internalizes otherness, whereas “Metamorphosis” expresses a more analytical, symbolic approach. These pieces offer a look into how he

“Self-portrait as an Alien,” archival pigment print on canvas of computer drawing at 300 ppi, 2020

“Parkour,” archival pigment print on canvas of computer drawing at 300 ppi,

2020 PHOTOS BY SIDDHARTH CHOUDHARY/ARTSWORCESTER

feels about otherness and how it has impacted him throughout his life. How does it affect you?

“Art History 201: Art, the Public, and Worcester’s Cultural Institutions,” at Clark University gives students the opportunity to work closely with regional contemporary artists. With individual artists from ArtsWorcester’s gallery programs, the students hone their visual and critical skills by producing short essays positioning the artists’ work within contemporary art history. This year, the students also curated small selections of their artist’s work for these online spotlights. This collaboration was funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.