Kriti Garg - Letting Go of the Labels Is a Crucial Part of My Art-Process (Artist)

 

I had never been professionally trained in art which allowed me to practice outside of regulations and helped me shape a voice of my own. Since then, I’ve worked with exhibitions, galleries, corporate firms, healthy ministry, with renowned artists, with NGOs and travelled to about 10 countries!

Tell us more about your background and journey.

My journey with art maps my life so far. I started sketching at a very young age and “the girl who draws” remained my identity throughout the school life and I soon picked up photography as well. I was also bright at academics so after school, I chose to go to a liberal arts university where I could study, explore, practice and grow- all at once. 

I had never been professionally trained in art which allowed me to practice outside of regulations and helped me shape a voice of my own. I started travelling in my second year of college and went on to attend a summer school in film and photography at UC Berkeley. 

Since then, I’ve worked with exhibitions, galleries, corporate firms, healthy ministry, with renowned artists, with NGOs and travelled to about 10 countries! I recently established my own visual content creation studio where I work with brands in becoming more relevant through visuals and simultaneously, I am working on a few ideas. 

In my free time, I give all the attention to my dog and actively look for ways to live more sustainably.



How do you deal with creative blocks?

I had a creative block for over a year and that period made me realise a few things. As artists, our minds are always at work since creativity cannot be limited by time and effort. 

So it is important to take breaks for yourself. Whenever I have a creative block now, I try to find the cause and more often than not it is because I am trying to fit into a mould which is shaped by my brain. So, I try to get rid of that mould and create whatever comes to my mind. If I am not able to sketch, then I paint. If I am unable to paint, I click. 

Even shaking my limbs to loud music helps me get into a zone where I feel like creating!

I see the obstacles as a problem-solving statement. If I am unable to solve the problem, then I try asking the question in a different way. I believe that problems which seem insolvable should be approached with a question asked in a newer way.



Who is your favourite illustrator/artist and why?

I am not sure if I have a favourite artist. The kind of art I feel drawn to keeps evolving and changing. There are many young creators I wholeheartedly admire. Adam Hillman’s way of looking at colours, Onyi Moss’s style, Salman Khoshroo’s boldness to name a few. 

There are some extremely talented creators out there who offer so much beauty to our world.



What is the inspiration behind your visual art content?

I am extremely intrigued by the idea of mundane. There are objects, words and situations around us which we fail to notice. We mindlessly keep doing things which we are conditioned to do. My ideas strike from the usual, the common- everything which is around us but yet we fail to look at them. 

I try to look beyond the labels which our limited minds have given to various things. I believe, once we let go of these labels and presumptions, a wider space opens up for us. I also travel a lot, both in India and abroad to expand my horizons and experiment with my skill set.



How do you find art in everyday abstract things?

As I mentioned earlier, letting go of the labels is a crucial part of my art-process. For example, if I look at a banana, I know it’s a fruit, it’s yellow, I’m supposed to peel it and then eat it. 

Once I disassociate myself from all these past learnings, I can further look at it as an object which happens to have a certain shape and form. This opens up the doors of possibilities as to what all I can create with a simple fruit. The concept of abstract is very subjective. My experience with art is colourful, relevant and a lot of fun too- and that’s exactly what I try to present to my audience as well! And I observe a lot. I like to observe the form, shape, colours, spaces everything around me and it happens in the most natural ways. 

I always have notes open- in my phone, on my laptop, in my diary- I am always noting down even the most vague form of ideas and if and when I revisit them- they often turn into what you see on my feed!


What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring creators?

My advice to aspiring creators would be that don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Keep experimenting and don’t say no to opportunities. It’s easy to point out reasons for not doing a certain thing but it takes courage to actually get up and do those things. And there is never any harm in trying. 

You are more capable than what you think of yourself. You will meet enough people who will put you down, don’t let yourself be one of them. Experiment, learn and grow- but don’t compare your art with others’.

Interviewed by - Shruti Gupta