CON-STRUCTION By Arunkumar HG

Arunkumar HG’s CON-struction represents the culmination of a sustained artistic investigation into a diversity of ecological concerns. In playing on the etymology of the prefix “con,” as that which connotes aspects of establishing correspondences, this exhibition visually explores what is at stake in the environmental disharmonies that surround us. Across the expanse of the varied visual engagements included in this exhibition the artist demonstrates how a conceptual embrace of recuperative husbandry can actively advance a more balanced approach to use (or re-use) of natural resources. While husbandry is rooted in the act of conservation, the recuperative aspects of Arunkumar’s practice manifest most succinctly in his deliberate repurposing of solid waste materials collected from rubbish bins, roadsides or abandoned mounds of building scraps to create many of his sculptural forms. Although Arunkumar repurposes found materials it might be fruitful to think in terms of his husbandry as that which cultivates new ideas through an active engagement with spolia – materials or artefacts taken from elsewhere and reused to create something new. By bringing the spolia of modern life back into the exhibition space and reconfiguring it as aesthetic objects Arunkumar re-values the origins of his materials and asks us to look again. Whether one considers his strategic juxtaposition of organic and recycled material with those of development (cement, aluminum, wood and glue) or how they meld within his artistic expressions, the work included in this exhibition stands as enlivened metaphors that posit the possibilities of thinking through the environment, not just about it.

Kathleen L. Wyma