‘How Long does it take to Complete a Circle?’ at Gallery SKE

New Delhi based Gallery SKE presents a new show, entitled, ‘How Long does it take to Complete a Circle?’ by Susanta Mandal, who continues his curious experiments with structural constructions. The idea is to perplex viewers, intended at subverting set ways of seeing things. Using materials like steel and glass, he comes up with structures that try and offer a visual depiction of the invisible energies running through pipelines. These serve as the latent backbone of modern buildings.

Though hidden, they are equally crucial, as they create multiple powerful pockets of tunnels inside the building space. Signals of light, threads that move & air pressure along with soap solution have been employed in this exhibit, for portraying the visual flow of electricity! Another body of work is evolved from the apparent fear and knowledge of an increasing shortage of resources. Lenses tend to enlarge the clarity of candlelight (akin to a magic lantern), and then project minute details from the architecture that might hallucinate, with images familiar to it, albeit unfamiliar at the same time.

The artist did his BFA (painting) from the Government College of Arts & Craft, Kolkata and completed his MFA from the Benares Hindu University. Trained as a painter, he has shown keen interest in working with a variety of forms and offbeat materials, which have manifested themselves in his mechanized sculptural installations. They make use of low-tech mechanisms, which are almost always exposed.

In his earlier explorations, Susanta Mandal has employed light as an inherent element of his work; not opting to rely on high-tech gallery produced fixtures, instead drawing on a more traditional engagement with the chosen medium. Shadows play a rather crucial role in his artworks as apt symbols of abstract fear- fear of life, or fear of social change, at a broader level. The artist also inserts photo images and video along with objects, which have been mechanized.