CURRENT

Chippa Sudhakar highlights the co-existence of the rural and urban, the natural and the built, the past and the future, through his malleable terracotta medium. The idea of development is explored through a sensitive lens that takes into consideration the obstacles, motivations and balances that come into play. The medium is treated to create a combination of forms, merging abstract with figurative and allowing for the juxtaposition of organic and artificial. He highlights the impact that land has on our collective experience and memory and how the evolving landscapes evoke different emotions.

Having grown up in a rural environment amidst nature, he has witnessed the transformation of that land into a bustling urban area firsthand. Through his art he brings to the forefront the kind of changes that are occurring and urges the viewer to introspect on the cost of this rapid progression. The economic and ecological factors at play are emphasised upon and the resulting dramatic transformation is mirrored in his work. Using materials like soil, wood, terracotta and metal, each piece of art engages you with its various elements, being both rooted in tradition and contemporary in finish. This delicate balance emulates the balance that the ever-evolving urban landscape is attempting to strive with its natural surroundings. The classic human versus nature debate is artistically rendered and Sudhakar considers his surroundings to be a constant influence upon him. This influence is what led him to explore the idea of how we are moulded on a fundamental level by what we witness. Communities who are displaced with such urbanisation and migration, continue to remember the experience and the memories of displacement become DNA-coded within them. All of these themes are explored in great depth through his art, allowing each medium and technique to focus on different factors, and ultimately hoping to achieve a balance between them all, just as he wishes to see between human progress and the natural world.