Coffee and Time Experiments 3

Coffee and Time Experiments started because of my engineering background where everything we did was an experiment. I studied Human Behavior in Stressful Environments as a part of my master’s thesis and through these 'Coffee and Time Experiments' I explore the parallels of environment and human fragility mimicking Pearson's correlation coefficient. Pearson's correlation coefficient is a statistic that measures linear correlation between two variables. There are two types of variables - continuous (that which would take forever to define/count. Eg Time or Environment in my case) and discreet (which can be quantified but might take a long time to do so - in my case human fragility and behavior). The results of experiments run by statisticians to compare these two ambiguous variables always ends in a scatter plot on a graph. I try to draw parallels to such experiments through my paintings. Drying times for different kinds of coffee vary hugely. I dry them in layers, and introduce new elements or more coffee with each layer until I feel my thoughts are transposed on the canvas. Climatic conditions affect the final painting differently - from harsh sunlight to the layers being dried in complete darkness for long periods of time. From a dry room to simulating a humid area for the layers to dry - I experiment with multiple variables.  

My first experiment was a work that was on the easel for over 2 years.  It was started in response to a major move to Oman from India and all the curve balls life threw at me. I was sitting in a park on a workday. That is when 'Experiment I' took its birth in 2018. The painting then moved with me to Muscat where I added few more layers of Omani coffee. The layers had a chance to dry in the hot arid desert 'Rub-al Khali' of Oman and cool off on the humid seashores of Muscat. 

Experiment III, has been on the easel for 4 months now. This painting is an experiment on the purpose of art in a world preoccupied with survival. This painting never had a chance to get out of my house, in short, the painting was in lock-down for 4 months - hence the simulated drying environment. During a time when some people can’t move out of their houses and are forced to stay within the walls - an opportunity to escape to a new realm using the mundane. 'Experiment III' is the new normal that delivers the world inside these four walls.