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Sculpture - nothing else like this in India
2008.02.10
I am not sure if these tiles are old or new but they are supposed to be secondhand. Some of the pieces are from squat toilets.
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I am not sure if these tiles are old or new but they are supposed to be secondhand. Some of the pieces are from squat toilets.
Click on the image to enlarge. Then click "next" to move through the images.
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This is one of my favourites, too peche.
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This is one of my favourites, too peche.
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These ceramic steps are from the third phase. Its the least original but still enjoyable and definitely good to photograph.
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These ceramic steps are from the third phase. Its the least original but still enjoyable and definitely good to photograph.
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I wish I knew what those plastic fittings were. I think its to do with lightfittings. That's the best I can do.
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I wish I knew what those plastic fittings were. I think its to do with lightfittings. That's the best I can do.
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Wall of rubble and those mystery plastic things. If you know what they are, please tell. Then I can update this label.
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Wall of rubble and those mystery plastic things. If you know what they are, please tell. Then I can update this label.
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These irregular forms are my favourite sculptures in the park.
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These irregular forms are my favourite sculptures in the park.
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They are made from the rubbish of demolished villages or towns.
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They are made from the rubbish of demolished villages or towns.
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Some of the forms are suggestive but often they are not. This one is very human isn't it?
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Some of the forms are suggestive but often they are not. This one is very human isn't it?
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This is a wall of rubble forms. Very evocative.
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This is a wall of rubble forms. Very evocative.
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One of the things I enjoyed about the park was being able to see how things were made. This wall is a combination of irregular shapes made from chunks of rock and gunge stuck together and a flat disc-like piece. Unfortunately I can't remember what it is, now.
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One of the things I enjoyed about the park was being able to see how things were made. This wall is a combination of irregular shapes made from chunks of rock and gunge stuck together and a flat disc-like piece. Unfortunately I can't remember what it is, now.
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Ceramic pots are another common form used to create walls and features. Its unlikely that these pots were recycled. When the park project became legal, the artist was given a grant and a team of workers. That's when, i think, he stopped using waste materials. I think its a mistake as I believe the park, after Nek Chand dies will fall into disrepair and will become rubble once again. It already looks a bit neglected in parts.
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Ceramic pots are another common form used to create walls and features. Its unlikely that these pots were recycled. When the park project became legal, the artist was given a grant and a team of workers. That's when, i think, he stopped using waste materials. I think its a mistake as I believe the park, after Nek Chand dies will fall into disrepair and will become rubble once again. It already looks a bit neglected in parts.
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This is a work falling into disrepair and that man is probably working on it, trying to fix it up a bit. But there were so few workers in the park, you could see the future.
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This is a work falling into disrepair and that man is probably working on it, trying to fix it up a bit. But there were so few workers in the park, you could see the future.
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This is possibly the final result of one of those pottery walls.
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This is possibly the final result of one of those pottery walls.
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Sack of sand walls. I love these. Its not sand anymore I should point out. It hard as rock.
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Sack of sand walls. I love these. Its not sand anymore I should point out. It hard as rock.
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Part of the playground in the third phase.
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Part of the playground in the third phase.
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Nek Chand, the artist, The Rock Garden, Chandigarh, Punjab.
The story goes that back in the 50s (or late 40s) when Chandigarh was being built, and the villages where it would be built were being demolished, an inspector or roads, started collecting the waste and began creating forms on a patch of unused land.
"In his spare time, Chand began collecting materials from demolition sites around the city. He recycled these materials into his own vision of the divine kingdom of Sukrani, choosing a gorge in a forest near Sukhna Lake for his work. The gorge had been designated as a land conservancy, a forest buffer established in 1902 that nothing could be built on. Chand’s work was illegal, but he was able to hide it for eighteen years before it was discovered by the authorities in 1975. By this time, it had grown into a twelve-acre complex of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete sculptures of dancers, musicians, and animals.
His work was in serious danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion on his side, and in 1976 the park was inaugurated as a public space. Nek Chand was given a salary, a title ("Sub-Divisional Engineer, Rock Garden"), and a workforce of 50 laborers so that he could concentrate full-time on his work. It even appeared on an Indian stamp in 1983. The Rock Garden is still made out of recycled materials; and with the government’s help, Chand was able to set up collection centers around the city for waste, especially rags and broken ceramics.
When Chand left the country on a lecture tour in 1996, the city withdrew its funding, and vandals attacked the park. The Rock Garden Society took over the administration and upkeep of this unique visionary environment. The garden is visited by over five thousand people daily, with a total of more than twelve million visitors since its inception."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nek_Chand
See also the Nek Chand foundation.
and see also Chandigarh
In the West, it has been a trend to create art from used materials for several decades but Chand was doing it over half a century ago, probably as the only way to access materials, rather than out of any progressive desire to save the planet. However, it's a model that india, as it advances as a modern economy, is going to desperately need.
People like to discuss whether Chand was an innovator or a borrower of ideas from Europe's modern artists - you can see resemblances to the work of Gaudi and Henry Moore. I don't really care about this. What's more interesting to me is that these inveterate makers pop up all over the world and when there is little access to formal art education, the ones who really can't help themselves go ahead and create stuff. It's a drive some people have.
Of the above works my favourites are the smaller forms made from lumps of old building materials.
Next entry, I will put up pictures that show the architecture of the park itself.
