Vipeksha Gupta’s art isn’t about life’s beautiful experiences. Yet, it is relatable as she has showcased the darkest period of our lives (the second wave of the pandemic) and the learnings she experienced from it.
They say tough times make tough people. The pandemic turned out to be exactly the same for the humanity. Many people lost their loved ones and suffered a wreak of emotional, mental and financial losses. But some people turned those times into an advantage and learnt how to grow out of them, despite the odds. Vipeksha Gupta was one of them who learnt how to turn her sufferings to her advantage.
At a recent showcase, she gave a glimpse of the same. Vipeksha’s works explore the concept of flux and impermanence, and how darkness as well as suffering is crucial to the growth as an individual because mind cannot be circumvented. Just like others, she too experienced an array of emotions that she translated into the art.
Explaining her works, she says, “I have used dark tones and sharp lines. The sharp lines depict the expression of victory. The art also includes etched lines and holes. They depict that a person should hold their ego, lust and harmful intentions without forgetting the incident that evolved you.”
Vipeksha believes that suffering is crucial to humanity as it helps a person evolve. “It’s important to understand your suffering, turn it into an advantage and grow out of it. I feel that a person realises his/her true potential when a challenge is thrown at him/her. That’s how it worked for me during the pandemic,” she shares.
She has used paper and added multiple layers of charcoal and graphite in her art. “It’s like a crease compressed on a timesheet of time,” she explains.
Working with graphite and charcoal is not something new for this artist. In fact, she has worked with the same medium for over 11 years. But according to her, neither the medium signify sufferings nor the dark tones.
“I have expressed how one can achieve liberation using the same medium. So, it’s not that these mediums signify suffering, it’s your own take how you want to use a medium,” she says.
The artist refrains from having preconceived notions about art. She instead likes to work in unconscious planned way.
“I call myself as a method artist. It’s an expanded feeling of emotions that I felt at a point of time, which gets evolved into a drawing or a three-dimensional piece of art. I usually prepare my compositions beforehand. But I let the images and patterns come to me organically,” she clarifies.
Besides graphite and charcoal, Vipeksha is also fond of drawing with pencil on paper. “Drawings allow me to express myself. They also enable me to understand some of the most important aspects of human emotions – beauty, hope, compassion and subtleness,” she adds.
Known for her monochromatic and meditative drawings, Vikesha studied art after graduating in history. She joined Triveni Kala Sangam, where she worked seven years. But later, she started working as an independent artist and that’s how she was discovered by Blueprint 12.
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