Jharkhand artist VIVEK DAS uses the traditional papier-mâché process to create sculptures that leave more than a floating memory. By Uma Nair
Last month, I discovered the power of paper in the hands of an artist sculptor. I was looking at a lantern. One that was sliced vertically and had a surreal flavour. Suddenly, the object had become subject through an interplay colours and the contours. Master sculptor Vivek Das from Jharkhand is expanding the paper’s potential through the time worn art of papier mache.
Power of Paper
Paper oscillates through time and tide. Paper has been the greatest invention for an artist, it has been a symbol of possibility and an abacus for writers, researchers architects, designers, artists and sculptors ever since its invention in China around 105 A.D. We think of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, we think of Reubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Gogh and the ultimate Picasso. Paper is more than a medium, more than a material, it is the most humble of tools in an artist’s hands.
Vivek Das’s lantern tells us that paper has a vast potential as a material for sculpture. Not only is it versatile: it can be featherweight and translucent while being heavy and rigid like papier-mâché. But most importantly, it’s non-toxic, it’s not so expensive and is accessible to everyone. Vivek says, “I try to create sculptures all the time in the hope that I can convert these into bronze.”
Curves, curls, convex and concave surfaces all come into play as he creates sculptural wonders that celebrate the malleable magic of papier mache. Vivek brings back the words of the great French writer and poet Rainer Maria Rilke who in his Book of Hours said: “Go to the limits of your longing… Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.”
In that universal cadence, Rilke assures us to “just keep going,” for “nearby is the country they call life.” Das exemplifies this and more in his brilliant works. Says he, “Whenever I try to pick out a subject to create, I find there is a co-existence of life with things that connect — for instance the lantern connects with life and light. I didn’t want to create a portrait of the lantern as it is. That would be too common, I wanted a unique portrayal.”
The lantern born of Vivek’s many moorings and thoughts is a metaphor for the existence of man through thick and thin, for his spirit of being that lives through the times rendered both within and without. “Beauty has no other origin than the singular wound, different in every case, hidden or visible, which each man bears within himself,” said the French writer Jean Genet. Vivek’s sculptures are about solidity and an inner life-force, their undulating forms conveying “tension, force and vitality.”
Untold histories
Vivek says, “I’m touching upon untold histories, as well as highlighting its parallel to my own identity.” He appreciates the papier mache for its accessibility, and explores the medium in various ways. “It’s a practice that’s very practical to follow,” he says. “No kiln, foundry, or harsh chemicals are necessary.” He approaches the medium with empathy. “It’s about assessing the composition I want to make, responding to it, and giving it what it needs,” he explains. “My approach is to treat papier mache like a complex yet beautiful contextual composition with a dynamic, hidden life.”
Paper’s tactile fervour
Using the traditional papier-mâché process to shape his sculptures, he models and occasionally carves the paper to achieve the desired shape, creating a sort of hybrid of sculpture and drawing. His admiration for paper’s tactile qualities, the subtlety of its colour and the softness of its shadows evokes a sense of physical space.
The lantern seems to speak of a psychological space and time through the layering of paper. Looking at Vivek’s works we realise that papier mache is innovative and inventive, there are endless ways that paper can be drawn on, cut, embossed and manipulated, both two-dimensionally and sculpturally to create masterpieces.
