BY ANANT ART · JUNE 17, 2017
By Ria Sarkar
While tracing the colourful streets of India's first Art District in Delhi's Lodhi Colony, you need a minimum of 2-3 hours to cover the entire area at leisure, with more than twenty breathtaking works spread out across consecutive blocks between Khanna Market and Meherchand Market. Thanks to St+Art India, a group of dynamic local and international artists came and left their mark on the blank walls of Lodhi colony that served as the perfect canvas for an artistic makeover. All these works were created last year during St+Art Festival 2016.
Block 14 | Anpu Varkey, Lava Tree
An explosion of red which looks enticing from afar turned out to be a beautiful tree with leaves like lava, spreading across the stark beige wall of Block 14. Lodhi colony is already quite green with a profusion of trees and shrubberies growing on every quarter inch of space; the addition of Anpu's lava tree is striking to say the least and forcefully grabs the attention of people passing by. In her words about the work, "Emerging from a dreamscape, perpetuating the flow of lava, the tree posits to consume the entire building, shadowing the menace of our minds." She poses happily with her creation in this photo by Akshat Nauriyal, taken just after completing the mural during St+Art Festival 2016.
Anpu Varkey, Lava Tree (PC: Akshat Nauriyal)
Block 11 | Neils Shoe Meulman, Sans Serifs, No Letters
Sans serifs no letters
and no words to read
sans words no signs
no names in the streets
just rows of buildings
and gardens sans weeds.
For his 10th year anniversary of Caligraffiti, an art form combining Calligraphy and Graffiti which he pioneered, Neils Shoe Meulman made history again. Despite being a writer for 35 years, the Dutch artist painted his own words on a wall for the first time! Moreover, he used the grass from traditional Indian brooms (broomcom) to make this work. According to Neils, the subtle tendrils of creepers that he painted around the windows magically show the original plant that the broom was made with within the artwork itself; making it a special piece that combines all his loves - lettering, writing, graffiti and plants!
Neils Shoe Meulman, Sans Serifs, No Letters (PC: Akshat Nauriyal)
Block 11 | Senkoe, Colours of the soul
At the other end of Block 11, Mexican artist Senkoe's 'Colours of the Soul' features brightly colored birds of Lodhi colony, made in the artist's signature motley rendering that is common across his practice. Heavily inspired by the beauty of flora and fauna that nature has to offer, his choice in depicting birds comes from his Mexican heritage - where birds are seen as symbols of diversity, identity and freedom, carrying stories and experiences across lands connecting different communities. The beauty of Senkoe's work lies in his detailing - dreamlike pools of eyes, richly decorated plumes and what seems to be a purple heart on a string under the central bird's beak, all hint towards Senkoe's lovely message to the community - that we should all communicate with each other and share stories, just like the birds would.
Neils Shoe Meulman, Sans Serifs, No Letters (PC: Akshat Nauriyal)
Block 9 | Borondo, The Origin of the World
Spanish artist Gonzalo Borondo has wowed the entire world with his surrealistic artworks using innovative approaches to Street art. Inspired by renaissance techniques and subtle, realistic ways of depicting figures, Borondo's murals are quite different from the usual colourful imagery associated with street art.
For his piece in Lodhi Art District opposite the Maternity Hospital in Block 9, Borondo ensued into a deep dialogue with the site to realise his adaptation of a classic French Realism painting by Gustave Courbet. By using perspective and architectural elements the viewer is meant to get inspired into thinking about the human condition - about the concepts of life and birth. Standing in front of it, at first the painted elements seem abstract. Slowly the features start revealing themselves as the painted perspective comes into play - a figure on a boat heads through a river towards the open arch, with pillars on both sides, disappearing into infinity. For Borondo this work is a perfect depiction of our journey in this life that starts from a mother's womb, representing the origin of humanity itself.
Borondo, The Origin of the World (PC: Naman Saraiya)
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