Valsan Kolleri`s work emphasis the need for an artist to completely understand his materials in order to facilitate a productive creative process. His recent sculptures involve appropriating everyday objects, frequently perishable ones, and imbuing them with meaning that is very personal to him – one that creates a narrative drawing viewers into his creative process and challenging them to discover their own relationships with...
Valsan Kolleri`s work emphasis the need for an artist to completely understand his materials in order to facilitate a productive creative process. His recent sculptures involve appropriating everyday objects, frequently perishable ones, and imbuing them with meaning that is very personal to him – one that creates a narrative drawing viewers into his creative process and challenging them to discover their own relationships with his materials. Creating continuity between their original use, his personal understanding of this objects his viewers` engagement with them, Kolleri`s work shows that such objects, far from being commonplace, have individual lives and relationships that define their unique nature.
In addition to demonstrating his deep knowledge of material and use of discarded objects, this piece, a rusted plough braised together with other scrap metal in a kind of sculptural collage, highlights Kolleri`s ecological concerns. Known for his butterfly garden project in Thrissur, Kerala and his rainwater harvesting sculpture in Delhi, here the artist uses a recycled hand-plough to stress the fragile relationship of co-dependence that humans share with nature.