10 Questions with Attri Chetan

Attri Chetan came from a family of artists. His grandfather was a theatre actor, his uncle and aunt are both photographers and artists, his father is a painter, and his mother is a classical dancer. So art was always there as a part of the family, and his whole childhood was spent in between canvases, paper rolls, colours, etc.

After his schooling in Rishikesh, he went to Odisha to pursue a career as an artist. He pursued his Bachelor's degree in Printmaking from Balasore Art and Crafts College, ODISHA, in 2016. After completing his Bachelor's, he shifted to Santiniketan and did his Masters in Printmaking at Visva Bharati University, West Bengal, in 2018. During his education, he participated in various national and international exhibitions, biennials, and triennials.

Presently he is working as an Assistant Professor at CMR University, School of Architecture, Bangalore, Karnataka. Attri is also a founder of an art group named 'UNKNOWNS ART GROUP,' and he was also appointed as a Junior Advisor at S.N. Das Art and Cultural Trust, NGO, West Bengal.

@attri_chetan

Enclosures & openings | Project Description

The series ‘Enclosures & openings’ is a set of 50 works of the same size and colour schemes. My colour pallet of Yellow and Gray represents the dull and bright side of human feeling and emotions. My work is influenced by the compact and very small apartments which designers are creating nowadays. The interesting thing that attracted me was that even the people living in those apartments change according to the space. I myself felt that because I was also staying in a very small apartment so my life was very much compact, framed according to the size of openings. In other ways, the size of my feelings changed according to the size of the space. I tried that there should always be a photographic stillness in my works, the contrasts inviting, the shadows gloomy in the focused buildings that stand in a lone space and serve as a powerful metaphor for of an apparent cityscape. After all, a rising city transformed from the once lush earth leaves a paradoxical taste in it.

INTERVIEW

Art runs deep inside your family, as both your parents are artists and your close relatives too. It was only natural that you would follow the same path. How did you choose printmaking?

I have seen painting and sculpture in my family since my childhood, so I was very obsessed with painting as well. In my art college, there was also a hipe created for painting as well. I remember during our 1st foundation batch printmaking class, our professor showed us some old prints by famous Indian artist Haren Das. That was the day when I started developing an interest in printmaking. I was still a little confused because I got good grades in almost all the departments in my foundation class. Still, I talked to my father because I was confused between printmaking and painting, he explained that it might be a little tough for me to learn the technical aspects later after passing out from college, But painting is something that we all do at home. It's more of experiential than technical. So it's great if I opt for printmaking and can keep painting.

Growing up surrounded by art, what is your favorite memory or experience so far as an artist?

There are many memories. I remember when I was 5 or 6 years old, my father used to give me his brush to fill the background of some of his commissioned portraits. My father used to take me to all the art exhibitions, making me sit on his shoulders. My father used to be a photographer also, so I used to carry his tripod, and sometimes I used to hold reflectors when he used to click portraits in the studio.
When I grew up, my uncle used to do inking for cartoons, and he used to teach me to fill the inks in the character. And the most emotional memory I have is, when I got admission to art college, my father gave me his ruling pen, which was given to him by my grandfather. He said nothing, just gave it, and went back to work.

How would you define yourself as an artist today? And what is the main goal of your art?

As an artist today, I feel I have matured way faster than my other friends. I am more into giving back to the field. I am more into providing and creating platforms for upcoming pass-outs. I became more sensitive to the problems of the art field.
The main goal earlier was just to be a great artist, but I didn't realize when it slowly changed now it is just to make art more connected and available for common people. There is still a huge gap in India between the artist and the common people. People hesitate to enter an art gallery or don't know what to talk about with the artist. So through my art, I just want to fill that gap and make more people visit art galleries.

In your work, you use yellow and grey as your main colors. What messages or meanings do these colors have for you? And why did you choose these over other colors?

These colors came into my work very organically. This series started during the lockdown, when we all were locked in our homes and couldn't go out. My routine was totally changed. I was able to see the sunrise daily, so maybe that yellow color came from that. The yellow color represents freshness and brightness, but the gray represents all the bad news and the feeling that I was listening to or going through.

In your artist statement, talking about spaces and how nowadays we live in tiny apartments, you say, "The size of my feelings changed according to the size of space." How does your approach to life change depending on the size of the spaces you live in? And how did you come up with this concept?

I grew up in a huge family, with 40 members living together under one roof, it was possible because the houses were huge and everybody was together, but at the same time, privacy was also there because so many rooms were there. But now, because of these small spaces, it has become a necessity to have a nuclear family.
People earlier used to have dinner or any kind of party at home, but now because the flats are very small, there is no option left for people then using clubs or resorts for gettogether than their own personal space. This pandemic has proven that we as a generation are now not able to stay with our families in the same house. The emotions and feelings have also become small, like the spaces.

How important is the perception of the viewers for your work? Do you think everyone can relate to your work?

The perception is not very important. I am a visual storyteller, and my job is to just share the story so the way they want to see it it's open. I want the viewer to have full freedom to think whatever they want to think about the work. The viewer should get a pleasant viewing experience. I don't want to show anything which makes the viewer feel sad or show them the harsh reality because real life is already there to show all this. I just want them to enjoy, smile while seeing my work and return back with a happy memory and a serious message about my work. I feel that people can relate, not everyone, but definitely to the people who have shifted from small towns to big cities for jobs or a good life.

In your work, there is no human presence, no man or woman portrayed. Is there a specific reason why you decided to exclude people from your work?

I never used human presence in my work because I feel it's a very direct way to show any kind of emotion.
For this series, the thought of putting human figures never came because the idea grew during the pandemic, when human absence and lack of connection were at their peak. So this series never demands humans, as the works are about the spaces and their emotional connection.

Let's now talk about the future. What are the things you look forward to the most after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Actually, I really enjoyed the lockdown time. The only thing I was craving was street food.

Over the past years, we have witnessed major changes in the art world. Do you find that the shift to digital exhibitions and art fairs has helped you promote your work?

Yes, It was helping a lot when it just started, and there were very few organizations doing that. But as time passed slowly, everybody started doing the same, and the quality also started degrading, as well as the authenticity of artworks has now become a big problem because of the digitalisation of everything. So yes, it's helping, but also creating more problems than helps.

And lastly, any new project or exhibition you want to share with our readers?

I plan every year a multidisciplinary art exhibition of 30 young artists from my country named Unknowns. Recently in December 2022, we did our 7th show, named UNKNOWNS 7, with thirty young artists from 16 different states of India. I am the founder/curator and designer of the group. This year in 2023, UNKNOWNS 8 planning has already started. Hoping for a great show at the end of the year.

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