Chemat
Dorjey

My biggest fear is that abject materialism will empty us of our foundations. To engage with the same, I have always wanted to look at my own land’s history and culture. Ladakh has inspired me in so many ways, the surreal colours of the landscape, the vast expanse of space, local motifs and symbols. The themes of my work draw from this in their depiction of everyday material objects such as a spindle, traditional shoes, calligraphic inscriptions of the Bodhi script, the contours of the land and their possible fusions. The multifarious forms of my culture, tradition and environment find their expressions in my sculptural formats. I must acknowledge that my forefathers built many resourceful objects. The spindle, for example, is a simple but meaningful object of creativity and provides ample inspiration to those at the cusp of a new age of technology. Or the wheel, which creates a sense of spiritual and emotional harmony in my works. The dynamic movement of the circular form evokes their universality – from the stars in the cosmos to the tiny drops of dew in the icy dawn. The circle is an integral yet symbolic shape of life. In keeping with my broad philosophy, I aim to create art out of Artiste NoteBY CHEMAT DORJEYmost kinds of material. So I have often chosen mix-media and bronze casting. Mix-media sets me free to think and do more creative work while papier-mâché, bronze casting and terracotta are traditional mediums best suited to experiment with indigenous techniques. I have always treated my artwork as a meditation on how to live close to nature. I use it to explore the possibilities of the material surface, harness the harmoniousness in texture and play with the contrast of colours. Perhaps because I draw heavily from tradition, my art uses very simple sources and devices such as the wheel or spindle, the flight of a butterfly, calligraphic graffiti inscribed on the rock face, the itinerant colours in local art forms, wood, and thread amongst others. Over the years, as my engagement with art in Ladakh has increased I have tired to understand as well as meaningfully communicate what it means to the community and how they engage with it. My personal journey has been to recognize existing art forms in Ladakh but to move beyond them