As featured in Unfolded Magazine Issue 12
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and
technology,” comments India Dewar on the theme of her work, which
explores the aesthetic or poetic dimensions of science and the
underlying geometries of the material world around us. The coupling
of science and art, might at first seem to come from opposite ends
of human understanding, but it is new findings which continually
challenge our thinking, that energetically give rise to new forms
of artistic interpretation.
Wide swathes of blue starry skies, atop blue mountains and vast
landscapes give a sense of wonder of the galaxy in which we reside,
seeking unanswered questions of our place in the vast universe and
where it all began. Having spent most of her life in the city, “I
don't think we get to do enough stargazing”, it can be a humbling
experience, as “you get an amazing sense of how small and
insignificant we are - it has a visceral effect. The "fabric of the
cosmos" is both a "comforting and intimidating thing, continuously
and infinitely unfolding."
In the works entitled Primordial Soup, gloss paint is poured onto a
very smooth surface, allowing the mixture to interact and evolve
organically, which India describes as "conjuring visual allusions
to things that occur in nature like cells, nebulae, planetary
surfaces and clouds." Once the paint has dried, mountains and
landscapes are drawn on top. "These are not mountains that exist in
reality but constructed landscapes that I built in my studio. I
piled rocks one on top of another, glued together with Alabastine
filler and painted and arranged on a piece of plate glass which
reflects like a placid body of water. I lit these from a single
lamp in a darkened room, photographed and drew from these."
With striking blue eyes, wearing a blue military style coat and
blue shirt, you could be forgiven for thinking she has an obsession
with the colour, as it also dominates her work. “Blue is very
symbolic for me, it’s a very important colour which I find
intriguing at the moment”, which we learn comes from her studies at
art college, “research about life after death and experiences of
people seeing the colour blue when close to dying.” Death is a
fact, as is the whole basis of science, consumed as it is in the
creation of knowledge. There is also a strong interest in
"mythology and ritual", the ways in which the "human mind protects
itself, how we comfort ourselves," and "our own ontological
experience."
India is inspired by the works of Conrad Shawcross, who is renowned
for an anorak enthusiasm for science and the work of Keith Tyson,
whose work embraces the complexity and interconnectedness of
existence. In searching for answers, on existence, space and the
early universe, India explores the fundamental questions and
realisations we have on where we come from. “Pattern is pervasive
in our universe and there is a mathematical and aesthetic side to
patterns,” she says, believing we all come from the same elements,
whilst discussing the rebirth and cycle of life that works of
Mariko Mori explore, which she recently viewed at Royal Academy of
Arts. The year ahead will see India carrying on painting, “the
subjects might change but the curiosity about where we come from
and of the future will always remain.”
Interview and Portrait: Nardip Singh