Vasundhara Shankari Sellamuthu, Maesthri’s love letter I, II & III, Tiling adhesive on cement board 6 x 4 feet (each), 2019
This triptych celebrates scratch walls made by builders in anticipation of tiling. Sometimes left as is for years, I am fascinated by the potentiality and hope held in the tooth and purchase afforded by this surface. Created with an economy of tools, these intuitive handmade cursive marks take on the appearance of a letter (sometimes concealing the initials of a lover’s name) written in a script resembling a universal ‘pre-language’ state. Drawing, often viewed as the mainstay of Architects, here affords the kothanar room for lyrical abstraction. In placing facsimiles of scratch walls never intended to be seen in a building or gallery context, I question conventions around what warrants visual and artistic merit.