Interview with Nidhi Agarwal

q)Introduce yourself, name,age, location.

 

a) Nidhi Agarwal, 40 yrs, New Delhi India

q) Can you describe your path to being an artist? When did you really get into it?

 

a)Painting is my childhood passion but got to know it from close when i was in art college and saw the various Exhibitions . Freedom involved was the basic pull.

q) Describe your ideals and how they manifest in your work.

a)W De Kooning, Francis Bacon, other German artists and F N Souza from India did influence my work to a great extent. My work relates Expressionism with bold strokes and aggressive ,vivid themes. At times i also see myself inspired by tribal arts from Africa.

q) Is music a part of your studio time? What do you listen to?

a)Yes, I need loud music when I work. It is usually something which can be easily understood without taking much attention . The hot peppy songs with dance beats  are my favourite at this time.

q) How would you describe your work to someone?

a)Too much happening within the spaces. Colour pallatte is very important to me. Colours are vibrant. I use thick impasto. The Faces have mouths wide open as if screaming, shouting or confronting also with sexual gestures. Figures are entwined. There are animalistic forms too .  Actions like Dancing Smoking, sipping and kissing are there. I believe life is all about playing,celebrating and relationships .

q) Influences?

a)I am least influenced by Indian Art and the reason is it is slow and has religious themes with earthy colours in most of the cases.

Yet I am more impressed by the western and European artists simply because they are bold .

I believe in the global trends  which display multiplicity in Experimentation & medium.

q) Describe your process for creating new work.

a)Each time i start with something new, I check on myself that it should not be repetitive. It should have a new colour scheme.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)I believe in experimentation. I see artist displaying works quiet repetitive in terms of medium , size ,themes and strokes. So, my idea is to show something new every time. There’s no point inviting people to show yet another series which is a lookalike. Also one can add some installation or 3 dimensinal work which credits your series to break the monotony of a solo show. Don’t show too often.

q) What are you really excited about right now?

a) Right now I am taking a short summer break and i am really excited about this plus I am constructing my own studio space which is surrounded by sprawling greens.

q) What do you love most about where you live?

a)I see various birds around myself, though I also luv these stray dogs, cats and various other animals in the  colony park in front .I luv their sounds , their struggle for survival and the way they play . The trees are beautiful. Especially at this time of year they are blooming with pure cadmium yellow colour flowers. When i am moving in the city there are all kinds of coloured trees which I believe are ecxeptionally beautiful. Lot of kids playing around this area makes the day interesting.

q) Best way to spend a day off?

a)with a close friend chilling and  going shopping around in the city

q) Upcoming shows/ projects?

a)there are two group shows coming up and one solo show this year and another one in the next year.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)One can simply Google or log on to www.nidhiagarwal.inwww.nidhiagarwal.in /http://www.facebook.com/artistnidhi