For(e)play 2012

KHOJ International Artist’s Association, Delhi, India
Peeling off layers of paints and several years of history from much-used gallery walls constituted a week-long performance...

For(e)play
I am strip teasing. Disrobing my concrete lover.
Using a chisel, hammer, fork, knife – my nails – I began taking the skin off.
The walls are cracked. Faces and hands are buried. Fading into black, grey, pink, blue, and flesh. Scratches with/out substance
Piling the pieces. Searching for a pattern. The guts and the dirt.
A hidden sense of belonging. Retreating into this shell.
Peeling it layer by layer until my lover gazes back at me.

(A note on the entry door)

Peeling off layers of paints and several years of history (comprised of application of different environments by various artists) from much-used gallery walls constituted a week-long performance converting the gallery space into a body accompanied by a will to enquire about its existence beyond its visible exterior.

The core of this body (the room) was unclothed and exposed with a loss of its social identity (room) giving way to an invisible/conceptual body.

A chisel, domestic hammer, fork, spoon, knife, and artist’s own nails were used to take off and chip away the external layers, in a bid to reach the complex inner core.