Dec 20, 1999

Sudarshan Shetty, 38
Installation Artist

ATTITUDE PLUS

When a reporter once asked whether his art was marketable, Sudarshan Shetty flew into a rage. To him, art was, is and always will be for art's sake. He's not an artist in the first place. Not even a sculptor. (He hates to be slotted, thank you.)

For convenience, we'll call him an installation artist. Bizarre, and somewhat in-your-face, installations have an individualistic style that combines art, sculpture and abstract concepts. And like it or not, Shetty's oeuvres fit into that category.

His most famous -- and untitled -- installation is a 16-ft aeroplane. Next to it stands a life-size model of a dog, a stool and some plastic flowers. What does it mean? "That's for the viewer to find out," he says. A graduate from Mumbai's Sir JJ School of Art, Shetty joined the Kanoria Centre for Arts in Ahmedabad and was fascinated by multimedia. "The intent is to create an experience that is emotionally charged," he says. "I put objects together which in that situation do not hold the same meaning as they would otherwise hold. Nevertheless, they come together with meaning to create an abstract space, leading one to the transcendental emotion." Got it? No? Well that suits him fine.

-Farah Baria

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