FORCE OF NATURE

Alwar Balasubramaniam dwells on absences and ephemeralities in his new work, states Meera Menezes.

- Meera Menezes

The recording of time in the natural world has long fascinated Alwar Balasubramaniam.

In earlier shows he has uncovered for us the layering of memories and materials in sedimentary rocks, the patterns created over time in wood and the slow deposition of substances in the formation of intricate shells. In his latest solo, Mirror on the Ground, on display at Delhi’s Talwar Art Gallery, from the 7th of February to the 1st of July, he makes us aware of the march of time as understood through acts that are premised on the evaporation of water bodies.

In his striking installation, Drift, in the basement of the gallery, an orb of cracked earth is enshrined in the centre of a wall. Though cast in fibreglass, it melds with the rest of its surroundings because of its earthy, clay-like hues. The work has a poignant quality to it, summoning memories of cracked, barren fields and dried riverbeds, caused in no small measure by the effects of climate change. Nearby, in In the air, an indigo and earth on canvas work, the slow evaporation of a splosh of indigo colour leaves behind striations and intriguing markings. It recalls