'Artiques' by Pooja Bansal
Founder of Mumbai based art and furniture studio 'Artiques', Pooja‘s practice aims at making old doors and windows from Havelis, houses, discarded mills etc.relevant again by turning them into astounding pieces of art.
The purpose behind her work, she says, is not only to restore but also make these doors and windows part of the modern-day environment for the patrons of art and vintage wood.
She uses painting and mixed media art derived from the fusion of distress art and various mediums like glass, gold foils, metal & wood, varying from contemporary to ethnic styles.
"When I moved to Mumbai from Dubai in 2013, I was still a corporate professional, with a passion towards painting over weekends. However, as I moved around in Mumbai, I fell in love with the old architecture of Mumbai with its old textile mills, chawls, houses etc which were fast being replaced by high rises." says Pooja.
"The doors and windows of these places kept catching my attention. It made me think how the high-rises in Mumbai, and in fact most parts of India, were fast replacing hard wood with metal, glass and light wood. I realised how we were close to losing our heritage of these beautiful wooden doors and windows. I started checking with dealers for old pieces and learnt that these doors and windows were made of great quality wood - Burma Teakwood. So I decided to paint on them instead of painting on canvases. These doors and windows come from old palaces, havelies, houses, discarded mills, and other places from across India like Rajasthan, South India (Kerela, Karnataka, TN), Gujarat, etc." Pooja explained.
Artiquès is an art venture aimed at sourcing, creating, and commissioning unique
pieces of art. Pooja has exhibited her work in various leading exhibitions including installations in Kala Ghoda festival, Mumbai in 2018 and 2019, Index fair, Mumbai in 2018; Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2018; India Art Festival, Mumbai in 2018, FOAID, Mumbai in 2019, and D/Code in 2020.
All pictures are copyright of Artiques by Pooja Bansal
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