ALIVE, AFLOW
India Art Fair (Focus Booth No. F05)
Solo show by Isha Pimpalkhare
'ALIVE, AFLOW', comes together to form Isha Pimpalkhare’s focus booth at India Art Fair (F05). With a mix of 2D and 3D works and textile as the primary medium, it showcases the various aspects of her thought, process and practice.
“My work has always been closely connected to understanding what it is that makes our natural surroundings ‘alive’; our innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life, thus capturing this lifelike and visceral emotion onto a more tactile and physical medium”, says Pimpalkhare.
Using the textile medium to create delicate and fragile installations she brings this experience to her audience, encouraging a deeper emotional engagement. Pimpalkhare attempts to highlight Biophilia (a love of the living), through breathing, movement, transformation and reciprocity, as some of the fundamentals of ‘being alive’. This drives home an important idea of the impact of our environments on our mental well-being and the role of sensory awareness in our daily lives.
As a mixed media artist, she situates her practice at the convergence of art and design. While channelling these sensorial experiences onto fabric, a large part of her process also involves exploring the medium and the technique itself, while testing its limits, and discovering new aesthetics. There is a constant sense of movement in her art, an evolution that occurs both at the beginning and in the final product as it is placed, alive in its energy and intent, within the gallery space.
In Pimpalkhare’s words, “Being formally trained in textiles, and having always closely worked with the medium, the idea of a ‘maker’ deeply resonates with my practice. The very act of making helps me find a sense of higher purpose and fulfilment - a flow, which also attempts to find its way on to the textile.”
Sanjana Shah
Creative Director, Tao Art Gallery
The Art & The Process
The works on display have been predominantly conceptualized and created over a period of a year in 2023. The process of making is highly time and labour intensive, which firstly involves drawing and planning the artwork in all its different layers. The sketches are then transferred on to the various fabric layers, superimposed perfectly, one on top of the other, to bring the visual together. The material, which is a 100% cotton fabric, is stitched over and then chemical treated, to then burn away parts of the fabric which are no longer required; to then reveal the final artwork. The same process is then followed on each of the inidividual layers which come together to create the final output.
About the artist
Isha Pimpalkhare is an artist and creative, who bases her practice at the convergence of art and design, with a focus on textile driven techniques and processes. She has formally trained in textiles, with a Bachelors from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and subsequently a Masters in Mixed Media from the Royal College of Arts, London. Currently, Isha is based out of Munich. She continues her design practice as a colour material designer for BMW, alongside her art.
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