Christina Massey

abstract botanical monotype collage in teal by Christina Massey

2018

There is a natural and raw understanding in Mukesh Sharma’s prints that both depict, and are influenced by, the Rajastani communities of his home town in rural India. In these Limited Edition fine-art prints, made over a period of twenty years, we are offered the colours of India’s ancient land, the textures, light and the patterns that are everywhere. In the patterns of the arable fields to the jali's (carved screens) in the architecture. This work is however not romantic nor nostalgic but shows a deeper rooted need to offer a visual heritage of place, of where the artist is from and the journey that he is taking. The results are both compelling and honest. Mukesh Sharma, Jetty 1, Lino-cut chin- coll’e on German Ivory paper Edition: 3 of 5, 2005 Image size: 50 x 33 cm / Sheet size: 79 x 55 cm Unframed ''What mesmerised me was the meeting of the sea and the mountain peak. Where the Jetty, a special curved wooden staircase leading to one end and the deep crystal clear sea at a distance. These scenes were amazing to me." Mukesh Sharma's work: It is often in childhood that paths are set for what we will become. Mukesh Sharma hails from a rural, agricultural village in Rajasthan, India. His Father is a craftsman who fixed and mended farm machinery and understood the working parts in the processes. Sharma followed in his Father’s footsteps, as is often the case in Indian families, but his was not the machines of the fields but the presses of the printing studio. Like his Father, Mukesh Sharma is fascinated with understanding how things work and how he can manipulate the metal in his hands. It is not surprising then that his medium of choice is printing. One of the most physically challenging of all the practices, it can often be physically challenging as well as technical and detailed. In his youth, Sharma would draw with stones on walls and floors. He was lucky his family encouraged this and he is grateful for his early art-training at the Jaipur School of Art but it was at the Baroda Art Department that he was introduced to the great printing traditions of Jyoti Bhatt...

In this linocut I was interested in the colous I could create in the sky and land. Lapwings are ever present in farming areas and are a great source of inspiration. ADDITIONAL INFOR...