The craft of art

Anything could stir him, a political issue or a social cause; artist Jaswinder Singh battles whatever is ailing the society by picking up a medium (sometimes stone, sometimes wood) and his tools. For instance, his work on ‘non-violence’ features a gun with a twisted barrel. “I pick up contemporary issues and try to reflect them through my art works,” shares the artist, in Chandigarh after having received the first-ever Sohan Qadri Fellowship worth Rupees two lakhs. An initiative by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, the fellowship hence onwards will be an annual feature to promote and recognise talented artists from Punjab and Chandigarh. “One of the good things is that he still has his studio in his village Mehandipur Tehsil Khanna,” adds Diwan Manna, President, Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, on how the total of 21 applications received for the fellowship were judged on the basis of their portfolios, followed by a one-to-one interview. The only criterion being, “They have to be from Punjab and Chandigarh, and between the age group of 30 to 50.”  

“They were short-listed and the winner was selected by internationally renowned artist Sudarshan Shetty. He adjudged on the basis of their art-works, craftsmanship, how intellectual and how connected are their works with the world around,” he adds.

However, as to who plays the jury each time, “It depends; it can be one judge or a team of more than one person. Depends on their availability and funds. But the endeavour is always to have an artist of international repute and somebody non-partisan.”  

The artist, his works 

Back to the works, among a total of 13 sculptures displayed, there’s one that metaphorically talks about inequality. Between hammers and nails, how it is always the hammer that invariably has its way with the nails? Jaswinder points, “But you see all the nails have gotten together to form a web and hammer is entrapped in this web.” He adds, “I basically pick up contemporary themes and work on them. Art is to sensitize people but in an aesthetic way,” adds the Masters in Sculpture from Government College of Art. “I like working primarily with mediums of wood and stone, partly due to their easy availability.” — Manpriya Singh