Mrugen Rathod’s “Mindful Art”
By Tehezeeb Moitra
Working within and yet purposefully at the margins of
environmental and social issues, Indian artist Mrugen Rathod (b. Ahmedabad, 1982) is something of an anomaly. While
his direct and often literal engagement with the environment and community
issues is evident, there is also a curious subtext that highlights a different
kind of preoccupation. Eluding the definitions by which his work is often
categorised, Rathod describes his art as “going beyond the realms of
environmental art, sustainable art or site-specific art” rather understanding
it more in terms of what he calls “mindful art”. To Rathod this is a term that
encourages the audience to engage with his work by paying “attention to the present,
non-judgmentally and non-reactively, … [and] then respond[ing] appropriately”.
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| Mrugen Rathod, Let US face the fututre - A fake prototype of Manhattan, NYC, 2012 Courtesy of the artist | | | |
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| Mrugen Rathod, Let US face the fututre - A fake prototype of Manhattan, NYC, 2012 Courtesy of the artist |
Rathod develops this idea of “mindfulness” through the
creation of works, ranging from sculpture to performance and installation,
which engage with a certain kind of site specificity that is rooted in a
spontaneous, intuitive connection with the local environment. The installation Let US face the future – A fake prototype of
Manhattan, NYC (2012) was developed during Rathod’s time at Art Omi
International Artists Residency programme in upstate New York. The piece itself
is an expression of Rathod’s response to New York City as a first-time visitor
to the US and embodies what he calls a “prototype of Manhattan”. The juxtaposition
of missiles and skyscrapers represent Rathod’s understanding of what he sees as
the inherent contradiction in the US where power, evidenced by skyscrapers and destruction,
the missiles, are intertwined. Using cardboard, scrap wood, cotton, jelly and
even found objects such as a bird’s nest to create a work that successfully
captures the confusion of the artist’s initial encounter, Rathod describes the piece
as having been “really spontaneous, and material was chosen locally and
purposefully discarded”.
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| Mrugen Rathod, Mistaken Case of Turtles, 2011 Courtesy of the artist |
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| Mrugen Rathod, Mistaken Case of Turtles, 2011 Courtesy of the artist |
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| Mrugen Rathod, Mistaken Case of Turtles, 2011 Courtesy of the artist |
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| Mrugen Rathod, Mistaken Case of Turtles, 2011 Courtesy of the artist |
The majority of Rathod’s work is a lot more locally relevant
both in terms of the issues he engages with and the materials he consequently
uses. His work is localised to the extent that the site he works on becomes the inspiration and
the impetus from which his work is
produced. The 2011 installation, Mistaken
Case of Turtles uses
bamboo strips, banana leaves, jute
thread, food colouring and tissue
paper collected from Fort Kochi beach in Kerala, India to create a life-sized
representation of turtles that have perished on the contaminated shores of
Kochi. However, engaging as the work might be, the utter localisation of the
piece creates the possibility of a kind of disconnect that prevents a coherent
engagement and indeed appreciation of a piece that is clearly reaching toward
an undeniably important message.
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| Mrugen Rathod, Pimp my Green, 2012 Courtesy of the artist |
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| Mrugen Rathod, Pimp my Green, 2012 Courtesy of the artist |
Rathod extends this localised engagement in the
2012 performance
piece Pimp my Green that
suggests a kind of commentary on the relationship between architecture and the environment.
Dressed in a florescent green lycra suit, sometimes photographed perched in the
window of an abandoned construction site or riding a bicycle that carries a
“house” covered in real estate advertising, Rathod inserts himself into the
physical landscape of his environment as a way to highlight the socio-political
message that forms the undercurrent of the performance. This idea of infiltration
into the environment is fundamental to Rathod’s practice - it allows him not
just to “alter or permeate the existing environment” but also
to create something altogether new. Rathod contextualises the piece by saying “By using
green colour, name or any form related to green – e.g. leaf or tree, in my city
or around, builders are trying to imitate the ‘green’ concept, but they are
doing green wash and by walking to the same kind of architectural site, I am
commenting on the policy of selling green”.
The
heterotopic spaces that Rathod creates are enthusiastic and earnest in that they
are based on the intent of drawing attention to those elements in society that
are often ignored or perhaps not given the attention they warrant. Through a
particular attention to site specificity, Rathod’s works are interesting and oftentimes thought provoking.