Terra
Julius Baer Next Generation Prize winner, Viraag Desai is a multimedia artist who veers towards the technical in his new media art, drawing inspiration from simulations, organic abstraction, figuration, and emerging online cultures. Of late, he has expanded his practice from painting to sculpture to technology-based installations, such as Emissions at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa. This has allowed him to further meld his experience in digital and set design with his artistic practice.
We’re in conversation with the artist as he lets us in on his practice and more.
When did your romance with the arts begin?
I have been drawing and painting from as early as I can remember. I have had a lot of encouragement from an early age so it's something I kept up. Eventually, I did a double major in Design and Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, rather than going to engineering college.
How would you define your artistic sensibility?
For the last few years, I have been very involved in working with digital sculpting tools, which have their own language and aesthetic. I like designing works that are intensely detailed, with visual narratives built into every space. The idea of contrasts also appeals to me visually, especially the spaces between the geometric and organic.
What would you say is the role of an artist in today's day and age?
Artists have a vital role in taking materials, techniques and ideas to extremes. They can be the testing ground for culture that is later adopted by the larger society.
What is it that you want for the viewers to take away from your sculptural work?
I focus on making work that has different readings on each viewing. I enjoy creating work that is dense with content, letting the brain wander within the frameworks of the larger ideas of ecology, digitisation and its societal effects.
Finally, what's keeping you busy right now?
I am the proud recipient of this year’s Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize. I am developing my project, Pathfinder, with assistance from some amazing mentors from the art and technology space in South Asia. This project is going to be a feat in digital sculpting, so I have been honing my skills and practising daily. I also have a show, Rhizome, at the end of this month at Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya (Museum), where I will be reacting to some of the classical Indian and Tibetan sculptures.
Words Unnati Saini
Date 21-04-2023