Madness & Glory

Welcome to Madness & Glory 2019 - my solo exhibition of 54 artworks.

 

I am a mixed-media collage artist.

I am a junk junky.

I am habitually looking for and frequently find natural & artificial objects that look unusual & beautiful to immerse into my artworks.

 

I regularly ask my friends to collect packaging of products consumed in their homes & in their office.

I shamelessly ask big factories & small workshops to gift their scrap & waste materials to me.

 

I safely store the tons of junk I’ve collected over the years in my studio.

I never ever throw anything away as the "objets trouvés" will magically appear to me when the time is right and find its place in my work.

 

I use ‘sacred geometry’.

I use Celtic symbols.

I use an array of surgical scalpels to cut & create extremely fine & complex patterns on holographic papers.

I use many glues with practiced precision to join different materials together to create my art.

I use a variety of different paints, pens & tape to create & add colour, symmetry, style & movement.

I use Origami paper with folding & sculpting techniques to create bespoke & elegant Origami paper sculptures.

I use newspaper & glue to create papier Mache sculptures.

I use many materials as a canvas - plywood, plexiglass, aluminium, fibreglass, fishing buoys - and for the first time - a scooter.

I use the internet, camera, mobile phone, OHP transparencies, magazines & inkjet printer to create images.

I use branded packaging materials from all corners of the world to create hidden messages.

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Please read my Personal statement next to get an essence of what this show is about:

 

MADNESS & GLORY / Personal Statement / 2019

 

Frida Kahlo said 

“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”

 

I say

 “I create collages about myself so that I can see what is going on within me.  My collages are about me and a window into my soul – they are the way I feel inside”

 

All my artworks in this exhibition describe my inner-self at different stages during my 14 year journey - from my early twenties to my early 40’s

 

It’s been quite the journey, and I have done a lot of growing up. As you do.

 

I moved from Delhi to Goa.

From a Miss I became a Mrs.

I have had joys and I have had disappointments.

I have seen excess and I have seen scarcity.

I have lost myself and then found me.

I have been Madness and I have been Glory.

 

A lot has changed, a lot has been learnt and this collection of work is the experience of these learnings.

 

Whilst most of my work is new and fresh, there are a few artworks that were started during difficult times and completed recently for this exhibition, so if you look

carefully you will still find traces of a dark & difficult past.

 

My bad days have become a distant memory, and now

I feel the future is bright.

Today, I’m good.

I’m strong. 

I’m independent.

I’m wiser.

I’m 100% back.

I have found my balance between the Madness & Glory.

 

Over the past 14 years, my identity has changed  with each solo show ... From Ayesha seth (2005) to S.Ayesha (2007) to Ayesha Seth Sen (2019).

 

In Vietnam, the word Sen means LOTUS. I am now a “Mrs Lotus”.

I am now complete.

 

My 54 artworks equate to the number of beads in my chanting mala. And like each bead is a prayer to God, so each artwork is a prayer & a blessing for me.

 

I hope you enjoy viewing my work as much as I did making it!!