Stretching the Canvas (some thoughts)(to be edited in time)

My second work with Infinitea:

Location: 
Infinitea,
2 Shah Sultan Complex,
Cunningham Rd,
Bangalore

Timing:
The first wave:
(3:00pm-10:00pm) Everyday from Friday, 9th December 2011 till Monday, 12th December 2011

Break:
Tuesday, 13th December, 2011 till Wednesday, 21st December 2011

The second wave:
(3:00pm-10:00pm) Everyday from Thursday, 22nd December 2011 till (it's done)

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A project with Infinitea
using their throw-away paper mats and coaster,
to replace the old tea leaves works that are presently hanging on their walls,
while sharing the process with an audience.


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There have been no preparations.
Just a mental visualization and the desire to see it multiplied.

Before i get into what i had envisioned...
i want to share a condensed history regarding the line drawings i had been working on;

It's a simple exercise i gave myself...
and have (on and off) been following through with it for over 5-6 years within 18 notebooks.

The exercise first started (2003-4) with a pin, where i would scratch lines very close to each other, over a black sheet of paper. Eventually, i started using a pen to replace the pin and decided to connect the lines that were initially separate. I wanted to see where that would take me.

During my art college days, i enjoyed working on it.
After graduation, i had much time to myself and this was something of an addiction (the drawings). I was finding new forms/designs and i was finding how my hand can sometimes move, to create its own designs that i had no intention nor initial visualization of. There was happiness in constant discovery.

This was something i'd do while frequenting cafes. Order the coffee.. find a corner..sit.. sip..draw..
After a couple of months, simple questions arose; As a person dealing with the subject of art, do i need an audience? Do i need them to be conscious of what i'm doing? Would they choose to engage with a person engrossed in an activity? If i draw in front of people, in a public space not intended for art exhibitions, would it still be considered an art exhibition or a performance or something related? To whom should it be considered so /or not?

From then on, instead of selecting the darkest of corners to hide myself in, i started choosing tables that were better lit and where i'd knew people would walk and pass by me. For the purpose of observing peoples reactions, i would put myself in the position where i would invite attention through curiosity (that is, if they showed interest).

In Singapore, it would usually be the baristas who would start a conversation with me by asking, 'What are you drawing?'. None of the customers there, have as yet. In Bangalore though, the baristas do show their curiosity more often than not... and there have been a number of customers who have expressed their interest in what i had been doing. As much as i like observing people, i like these moments... for i find little things about myself through our interactions.

These drawings had for a long time remained as notebook sized works that had been kept to myself. A friend  had later convinced me to exhibit along with her in a gallery setting. For the first time these work had been made large(r than usual) (A2 size). It was a new experience of drawing for i had to move my arms more than i had my wrist. I had no audience while making the larger pieces because they had to be done at home.

I had decided at that point that i would not be doing those drawings any longer.. and that i would start transforming them beyond the two dimensions. Without intent, it had happened with this experiment with refuse paper from a printing factory. The bulk of the credit of this project goes to the people who had participated in it (credit for the left photo goes to Xavier)

and now..
that mental glimpse i had earlier ... had shapes like the ones below.

Come on by, if around.

Have a fantastic day ahead!

Mith
9th Dec, 2011 (6:50am)
(my pillow beckons)

The Lost Tea Leaves Series

An experiment playing with the possibilities of reusing throw-away tea leaves and powder as a collaborative effort between Infinitea and Mithun Jayaram.

(Why is it called the LOST tea leaves series?)

If in Bangalore, we invite you and your family & friends to relax with a pot of tea and great food under this loungy feel situated at 2, Shah Sultan Complex, Cunningham Road.



- Christine Rillo who works for Adagio Teas wrote this very inspiring article.
- Catherine V. Bainbridge wrote this for her blog.

- Kanika Singh, who works for Buzz in Town, Bangalore, had written this on the Lost Tea Leaves Series.

Many thanks to Gaurav, Deeksha and the many pillars who hold up this very special place.

2008-09


Documenting the Lost Tea Leaves Series







Photo documents.












Video documents. (coming soon)












Videos for Infinitea. (coming soon)

Observing the 'Lost Tea Leaves Series'

Why ‘lost’ you may be wondering…

Few years back, at the Alliance Française, I was trying to explain (rather retardedly in French) to one of the French teachers there, the project i had been working on, the past couple of months. (I had been collecting the refuse tea from a tea restaurant called Infinitea in Bangalore, to make works that could be later exhibited in his establishment). In his trying to understand what I had said to him, he related it to something that was very familiar to him, ‘Pain Perdu ’. Literally translated as ‘Lost Bread ’, which is what we know to be as French Toast.

He further went on to explain that the bread that was made a long while back in France, lasted for just for a day before it became hard, crunchy and stale (lost). He described how that for the people to get over this, what they’d do is make it soft by dipping it in a mixture of eggs and milk to fry it into golden brown chunks (slices in American and English cultures).

The more I tried researching about it, the more I realised that each country has their own method of preparation and they all call it by different names. Even the history of ‘French Toast’ may not necessarily belong to the French.

Nevertheless, just the idea of something ready to be thrown away (the abject quality) and it being given second breath to be something different, was what captured me. That people had found a way to waste less bread by preparing it differently.

Talking to my dad about it reminded him of an Arabic desert item he loves called ‘Um Ali’.

My mind kept revolving around the idea that the bread was once ‘lost’ and now reborn. The usage of language to imply history through the word ‘Perdu’ (lost), was an idea I found too appealing to let go of.

The more I thought about it, the more I could relate to what I was doing with the tea leaves. They too, every evening get chucked away in large garbage bags where they will find their way into lorries, the next morning, that lift them away. Instead, the 'Teamen' (as they are called) collected them for me, where i took the leaves and powder back home to dry and stored them to see what would happen over time (eventually to glue them into forms and frame them for display).

But it just wasn’t a simple matter of collecting, drying, storing, pasting and displaying.

Observing its daily decay and experimenting were where the fun laid for me.

14th March 2009 edited (12th March 2011)