Dhananjay Singh

A lot of your work involves human subjects and the intricacies of their anatomy. Can you tell us a little about how you came to focus on the human body, and what it is about human anatomy that fascinates you?

I observe in nature an unending lifecycle in which matters keep transforming into other forms and appearances in the process of birth and rebirth, growth and decay. Man is also a part of nature...

A lot of your work involves human subjects and the intricacies of their anatomy. Can you tell us a little about how you came to focus on the human body, and what it is about human anatomy that fascinates you?

I observe in nature an unending lifecycle in which matters keep transforming into other forms and appearances in the process of birth and rebirth, growth and decay. Man is also a part of nature before him this drama spreads.

The human body is an observer or is observed as embodiment of itself without any specific features representing the universal with subjective interpretation about life and its stages. Relaxed in pose between still and motion in a meditative state of mind means confronting both positive and negative equally without making any judgment, which is a state of voidness, losing oneself.

Human body fascinates me because we can associate our emotion and compare it with other forms of life. When looking inside of complex mechanism it surprises me when I compare different organs with different parts of tree doing same function with different feeling in form. For instance nerves in tree leaf or fibers become very soft structure in human body.

Do you draw any parallels between the complex nature of your drawings, watercolours and wire sculptures and the complexities of human existence?

For drawing ideas and form I looked towards nature, and the tree of life became the principal source of inspiration, because of direct contact with the plant since childhood. I am able to derive the general principles of formal structure, which grow according to their function and also observed the interrelationship among the plants, animals, humans and all elements that intertwined with each other. The world is not a collection of isolated objects but as a network of interconnected with environment and interdependent. So there is nothing in nature that is not in us, whatever exists in nature exists in us in the form of our awareness of its existence. I feel a sense of belonging, of connectedness, to the cosmos as a whole.

Have you experimented in your sculptural practice with materials besides bronze and metal wire? Are there any other materials you enjoy working with?

The making process totally integrated with my idea and based on natural laws of creation. Through studying and observing plant and human life, I grasp the pattern of organic growth. In which form grows through division and integration of cells and I find it more clearly in the form of tree. I employed these understanding in formation of my sculptures. The chosen medium metal wire reflects a unit of form like cell or fiber.

I have been interested in direct process of making sculpture since my entry in Art College, which I recognized later. In this process form develops gradually with the intrinsic quality of material and technique and unveils subconscious mind through imagination.

I have been constantly experimenting in different mediums in order to discover my self through self-questioning. Gradually with development of my practical experience through accepting and rejecting things given me insight to see deep inside myself layer by layer.

My experiment began during my graduation period in BHU Varanasi (1994-1999) when I worked mostly in direct plaster, stone carving. Later before coming to Baroda with above interest I wanted to create transparent forms to juxtapose duality in sculptural form, which is not possible in any other medium except metal so I opted for iron as a cheap medium. After coming to Baroda in 1999 for my MFA, I experimented only in direct metal with different techniques of welding and joining. And I started with iron sheets. Gradually in search of more and more transparent form, I finally came to wire in 2000, which fully suited my imagination and ideas. By 2004, I got control over medium by learning from trial and error and developed unique sculptural form.

Your watercolour renderings often seem to portray ghostly silhouettes floating weightlessly, yet there always seems to be some form of an attachment restricting them from being completely detached or free. Can you expand on this juxtaposition?

Most of my work whether it is drawing, watercolor or sculpture depicted in a frozen moments of life, time arrested and time passing, Present in between process of transformation, from formless to form or form to formless, from visible to invisible or invisible to visible, from botanical to zoological or zoological to botanical, from known to unknown or unknown to known, from inorganic to organic or from organic to inorganic, forms emerge from forms all are interconnected and inter-woven.

What are some of your current projects and in which directions do you see your practice developing in the future?

Current projects would be a solo show. I am constantly refining my sculptural form from practical experience and hoping to transform my ideas in sculpture, which is not executed yet. My sculptural practice is developing in the future in the same direction with new forms, scale and variation.