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Lot 57

 

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Over the last decade Manisha Parekh has moved away from painting in gouache and watercolours to working with handmade paper. Labour and time intensive, Parekh’s creative process now involves a painstaking building up of each surface through multiple layers, which either translucently cover or peel away to reveal underlying forms and colours. “These works have palimpsest qualities, building depth and solidity from vulnerable materials, embodying... Over the last decade Manisha Parekh has moved away from painting in gouache and watercolours to working with handmade paper. Labour and time intensive, Parekh’s creative process now involves a painstaking building up of each surface through multiple layers, which either translucently cover or peel away to reveal underlying forms and colours. “These works have palimpsest qualities, building depth and solidity from vulnerable materials, embodying the thinking of the artist between their layers. The process of empirical thinking is carried forward as each layer is applied. Recognition of the basic material is sometimes illusive, as the hand of the artist transforms their visual qualities, taking them away from the ordinary” (Lin Holland, One to One, Shadow Garden: Manisha Parekh, Berkeley Square Gallery and Saffronart exhibition catalogue, 2006, unpaginated).

Speaking of her choice of materials, the artist explains that choosing what to work with is akin to a journey as each material has a unique life and trajectory. Elucidating, she says, “Time spent working reveals possibilities and processes of understanding. There is a sense of give and take once work begins and the materials start to guide and show you how to use them. It is an open-ended journey. I have used paper for many years and through the repeated use of a familiar material I can trust the process and have faith in the materials. Working over a long period of time with the same materials allows you to get to know them thoroughly, through the body as well as the mind… Qualities of fibre, surface, opacity, translucency and so on become revealed over time and with regular handling” (rpt. in Ibid.).

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