Author: Riya A

I have never been good at abstraction. Honestly speaking, I have never wanted to be. I have always looked down upon, and still continue to dismiss, the loose, illegible, mind-bending, and non-figurative nature of work that is not bound to recognized life in the most obvious ways. I am a figurative artist. I work with life, capture the beauty and pain within my heritage and culture, and push myself constantly to get closer and closer to realism in each of my pieces.

Watching many of my peers work with such clarity while creating something so abstract is a true wonder to me. I struggle to understand and recognize the beauty in much of the work that I see from my fellow classmates, but I know that there is great value in their creations. One of the things that I am the most grateful for in my life are my hands, and creating with them is my truest passion. By taking a sculpture course this semester, I thought that I would be exposed to various different mediums and then left to my own devices to create work as I pleased. I did not expect the challenges that I have faced.

My first two projects, The Tarp and The Chair, were simple. They were very safe and I knew that I would end up creating something attractive once I decided what to make. I kick myself now that I allowed myself to explore the exact same subject, a peacock, in both projects. I was very comfortable with the materials and resources, but struggled heavily with the thought of transcending beyond a recognizable form. I think this paralyzed me into staying within the confines of what I know.

I push myself to my limits. I am known as the girl taking the 18 credits, working the job, being the president and leader of multiple organizations, running a business, volunteering at clinics, doing extreme sports, and finding time for art. I push myself in every aspect of my life. My art is the place where I have always pushed and challenged myself in the magnitude and complexity of my compositions, but never in the content. My work is aesthetic and attractive, but it is predictable, par for the course, fitting. I have created a narrative and name for myself and done a good job of fitting it.

The Verb Project pushed me to make something unrecognizable (my verb was “to crease”). I could have easily done another peacock, but I wanted to push myself in a different way this time. I truly enjoyed this piece and this time I feel that though the material was safe, the end product was something outside of my self-constructed box. I wanted to create something simple, not too complicated, but something different. Throughout this semester I have really learned about my weaknesses and limitations. Being forced to create past these limitations has been a challenge to say the least but a welcomed portal. I look forward to incorporating this freeing air that I have captured into my future work.

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Website: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good evening everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and have had a good week thus far. I am suffering from major writers block here and thought that I would post a little bit of sneak peak into my latest painting. I also wanted to share some of the difficulties that I have had with this piece and the process by which I work through rendering challenging subjects.

My current piece, set to be complete by the end of the month, is a 4’x5′ oil painting on canvas titled Five White Horses. This piece is a recreation of the symbolic and famous cover of the Hindu holy text called the Bhagavad Gita. I have taken inspiration from a similar recreation by Bijay Biswaal as well as the original cover from the official Srila Prabhubad version of the text. This is my biggest and most detailed painting to date and it has been more than a challenge getting it to a place where I am satisfied.

The figure on the left is Krishna. Krishna is meant to be portrayed as divine with beautiful, effeminate features that are still strong and masculine. I have had a lot of trouble rendering Krishna in this painting in a way that depicts him as intended. There are a few tricks that I use when I am facing these challenges that I wanted to share with you all!

1. Take a break from the piece! Taking time away from the painting is imperative. I took a couple weeks off from this work and decided to focus my attention on other art pieces. This provides me with a fresh perspective on my composition.
2. Turn the work upside down. Though this seems bizarre and counterintuitive, a change in perspective literally forces you to attach the artwork with a new eye and vigor.
3. Refresh with reference images. This is very important for paintings with life-like subjects. I find that taking time to study lighting, staging, and anatomy away from the physical piece is very helpful. This help me to sculpt out the subjects with a greater likeness
4. Give yourself some grace! Good work that you can be proud of takes a lot of time. I struggle with every single piece that I do. However, it is through this struggle that I learn the most about myself and unlock new skills that I am able to apply to future pieces. Take your time to explore your medium and subjects. Make mistakes and welcome them!
5. Finally, stop when you have said what you need to say. It is very common to overwork an art piece. It is an art in itself knowing when to stop and having with wherewithal to call a piece done. When you feel that you have expressed your intentions in the work, let it go. There is no such thing as perfection in an art piece and continuously harping on details can take away from your broader message.

I hope that some of these points were helpful if you are also struggling with or stuck on a piece. There are so many aspects of my art process that have become second nature and I find it fun to put some of them into writing. As always, please feel free to reach out to me or comment if you have any questions, concerns, or thoughts! If you would like to see my work, please feel free to check out my website and follow me on Instagram.

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art

Website: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/

Good afternoon everybody! I hope that you are all doing well and have had a wonderful Monday thus far. I am taking a printmaking class this semester and I thought that I would share my most recent art piece. This class has challenged me more than I had anticipated. In many ways it has been a welcome way for me to channel my devotion to technical skill and intricate details. In more ways than one, however, it has pushed me to be okay with making mistakes, give in to the process of printing, and welcome whatever comes.

I tried monotype printing for the first time. I have experience in relief printing and linoleum carving, but learning the loose nature of monotype was daunting at first. Of course, I knew I wanted to stick true to my cultural repertoire and decided to draw feet in a classical Bharatanatyam pose. Monotype prints allow artists to use various materials, techniques, and layers to create interesting textural pieces. I found that though I attacked the project with a level of planning and vigor, there was always something that went wrong. Out of eight prints, I came out of it only really happy with one.

However, at the end, there was something incredibly freeing about the entire process. I was excited when I got the intended result, but when I didn’t I was willing to go with the mess ups. It is in projects like these that I learn the most about myself and the process. Who knew that through the simplest moments I would learn the greatest lessons. It is important to make work that we are not proud of! If we let go of the yearning for perfectionism, we get the chance to experiment, to explore in ways that we have never allowed ourselves to before. There is no such thing as perfectionism. Through taking a leap of faith, we may find a diamond in the rough.

Until next week,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_agg.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/ 

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and that your semester came to a successful end. Knowing that I am done with my junior year of undergrad is incredibly exciting yet terrifying at the same time. Time has flown by and I am so excited for the journey to come next!

I am currently in the process of applying to medical schools, about to depart for vacation with family, and trying not to let the anxiety of applications get to me. It has been very tough navigating the onslaught of COVID-19, moving out of home to a new environment for the first time, and juggling a part-time job, research, full course loads, and life all at once. Things did not go as planned. There have been so many hiccups and nothing turned out exactly as I had planned for. However, I truly think that I will end up where I am meant to (in the least cliché way possible).

There have been a few big lessons that I have learned this year. I have learned to stop looking outward and doing what people expect of me, and rather to treat myself with compassion and love. I have notoriously been very good at pushing myself to the nth degree. However, over this past year a lot of that has started to catch up and really affect me mentally and physically. I am trying to learn to listen to my body and mind, assess what I need to do to myself, and allow myself to prioritize what makes me happy. I am not good at following this advice, but I have learned the hard way how important balance really is.

Pursuing a career in medicine, I realized that it is important for me to establish ways of taking care of myself in order for me to fully take care of others. Nobody truly prepared me for the challenges I have faced, and the ones to come. What I have learned though is that I am fully capable. All it takes is patience, compassion, resilience, dedication, and flexibility.

Patience to wait out the bad times and know that good things are coming my way. Patience with myself as I struggle and push through challenges.

Compassion to others and myself. Compassion for those that I serve, my friends, my family, and my own limits.

Resilience to keep going, especially when things get tough.

Dedication to my passions, endeavors, and work. Dedication to my goals, to myself, and to my dream of becoming a kind, good, and successful physician.

Flexibility of mind, allowing myself to adjust my plans and sail with the changing ocean tides.

As I write my final blog post of the year, I hope to embody each of these values and more. I keep the image of my young self in my mind and award her the grace, love, and kindness that she deserves. Be kind to yourselves. Life is too short not to live it to the fullest. Have a beautiful and restful summer everyone!

Until next semester,

Riya

Instagram: @riya_agg.art

Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/