Time to stand and stare

In this fast-paced world, when does one get time to stand and stare, to reflect upon one’s relationships — with people as well as things? Obsessed with fast-changing technology and functionality, there are few things that shake us out of this perpetual busy-ness. While many of us are losing years to such routines, one artist is challenging our relationship with regular objects, ourselves as well as those around us. Claymen by Aman Khanna are not mere faces made with clay, but are also functional objects and at times, totally dysfunctional, challenging the norms of what ought to be and what not to be. Ranging from crow decanters, face vases and bowls to faces staring in the mirror, questioning their as well as our existence, the artworks are very thought-provoking and can’t be dismissed like other mundane objects.

Clayhead with stand

“Being a graphic designer, I was spending a lot of time in front of the computer screen. I just wanted to break away from that routine. I wanted to be more tactile and that is when my tryst with clay started. I participated in Pictoplasma, a festival and conference of contemporary character design and art, where they get character artists from all over the world. They have a big exhibition. I thought of making a 3D character and experimented a bit with wood but that didn’t work out. So I tried with clay and it brought out a lot of childhood memories for me. Clay is something that I felt very comfortable with. It is also a very forgiving medium. I felt connected and slowly Claymen took shape,” shares Aman.

Working in his studio in Hauz Khas in Delhi, Aman didn’t put his works on display in the initial year. It was slowly when things started to pile up, that he shifted some of his works for others to view and people took an interest in it. Talking about the expressions he chooses for his objects, he says, “Sometimes while hand-moulding a face, there is a title in my mind and I try to mold it according to that. Sometimes the opposite happens, if a thought or a conversation is stuck in my head, the face comes alive and that is how I name it. So it’s a two-way journey.”

Bottled up

While he has been working with clay, it is not the common picture of a clay artist working in the studio. “Mostly people think that if you are working with clay, you are working on the wheel. My art work is not like that. Of course, I have a potter who comes in once in a while to help me with my work. But the work is more than that. There is a lot of hand moulding involved,” he says.  His latest Claymen series is called ‘Acute, Obtuse Straight and Right Series’.

“An angle means the Space (measured in degrees of separation) between two intersecting lines or surfaces at or close to the point where they meet. So the series is a take on a particular way of approaching or considering an issue or a problem,” he explains. Similarly there are “Observers” with non-judgemental expression and “Bottled up” containers pointing at pent-up emotions, desires, impulses, or behaviour, which are certain to get one thinking and shake one out of their busy life, even if for a moment.