Artwork: Vaishali Prazmari, Big Little Devils. 2021. Ash, tea, sunlight, clouds, wind, hayfever, rain, flies*, incense, Chinese and Japanese ink, glitter, watercolours, glow-in-the-dark paint on paper
150 x 210 cm triptych (each panel 150 x 70 cm). (*no sentient beings were intentionally harmed during the making of this piece). Courtesy of the artist.
'What sort of land is this, but a land of witchcraft and a world of genii!'
— Kalila wa Dimna
Vaishali Prazmari
Visual artist Vaishali Prazmari has been exhibiting for just over fifteen years. Among other degrees, she has an MA from the Slade School of Fine Art and is working towards a PhD from Slade also. In her work she incorporates elements from a variety of cultures including her own Chinese, Indian and Persian heritage into vivid and detailed pieces. She recently launched an epic project on the 1001 Arabian Nights, part of her practice-led PhD at The Slade School of Art, and a collaborative series called Carpet Pages.
EXHIBITION ARTWORK
The 4 friends, a tale of 4 tails and 4 heads
The artist proposes a series of three large paintings reflecting her artistic heritage working with oil painting, the Indian and Persian miniature traditions using opaque watercolours and Chinese painting. The floating recto/verso artworks will depict three friends represented by one figure’s head on one side of the painting and the other figure’s tail on the other side of the painting as if chasing one another, in roundabouts, and never touching, like stories ‘chasing’ after other stories: tails chasing tails and tales chasing tales. It illustrates the persistence but also the challenging pursuit of friendship and genuine encounter in a time of divided societies and polarized ideologies. The readings of the paintings shift depending on where you are standing as a viewer and as you walk around the artwork. The artist is asking: will Kalila wa Dimna characters manage to come together?
The Four Friends, 2022, hanging paintings, Chinese ink, watercolour, oil on canvas.
The Four Friends, 2022, miniature paintings, Chinese ink, watercolour, oil on canvas.
