Peel

To be offered a studio space is a gift.

This is where processes that have started in one’s head – the ideas, the visions, the sketch of an evolving image, can be played with, tried out, and left open to be developed further or not.

Then there is the material and the physical space itself. The space too becomes material.

~ The first time I come to the studio I bring 2 photographs that I have taken of 2 shophouses (in Siam Square) that have been sliced open to reveal their cross-section. To me, they have become like stage sets, backdrops in front of which a drama that is still very much part of our life, was played out.

These 3 dimensional spaces manifest as peeled layers that now become 2 dimensional backdrops, architecture turned into a kind of collage/painting made up of cement, beams, paint, burn marks, and traces that mark the history of people who once inhabited these spaces. I am mesmerized by them and visit the sites again and again.

~ I also bring with me a pack of handmade paper that I bought a few years ago from a master paper-maker who lives near Lampang. Each time I take this paper out and lay it in front of me thinking I would like to draw, I get lost in the paper itself and am unable to make a “mark”.

As Tip (Jaitip Jaidee) pointed out – the paper speaks for itself.

To make a grid with it is to engage in a process. The geometry, in this case of a grid, is a human endeavour for perfection. The frayed edges of the paper, the sheets appear to be but are not all strictly one size, follow the rule of nature and present no straight lines.

The sheets move with the slightest of breeze created by walking in front. They respond to our actions and the surrounding environment, much like the 2 structures in the photographs have.

Also, this space speaks for itself in many ways. It is a lightbox – bringing in light during the day and throwing out a glow at night when lit from inside.

~ This collage is a part of a process - the first ‘thoughts’ that came to me when I started to work at the studio.

I am grateful to Chitti for this gift - for offering me this space.

Varsha Nair
May 14, 2011