Dhruva Mistry

Description

In 1987 Dhruva Mistry made a number of medallions within which he used images of objects such as a chair which he then developed in two different ways, the object as a representation of human presence and as a more organic thing evolving towards human form. This sculpture is a further development, woven with other ideas explored as early as 1976 in works combining the human figure with cubes, which evolved towards the physical content becoming entirely geometrical. Here, the subject is the object, and Mistry plays with that area between the onlooker and the object with the intention of making the onlooker's perception become the content. The Object is perceived by looking at it, looking into it, looking round it and looking through it.

The overall quality of the piece is well defined in terms of planes, forms and cut-outs. The planes are meant to work architecturally, and are here combined with an interest in crystalline forms which may be seen through - the roof being a crystal shape which might be read either as a crystal or a roof. The entrance is an invitation into the object/palace/ castle/dream-castle where there are signs of welcome, but physical entry is impossible. Any idea of reality is constantly confounded. As the viewer looks at one side of the sculpture expectations are set up, only to be dashed as he/she moves around it.

Dhruva Mistry is very clear about his play on perception. In this sculpture the play on meaning and on language, almost a tease, is taken full distance, with the material quality of The Object having equal physical and intellectual weight. Stainless steel, sanded to a mellow silvery surface is, for Mistry, the perfect medium through which to deliver this piece. Treated in this way, steel has an ambiguity that distances itself from the physicality of stone.