The clean girl aesthetic started getting popular around early 2022. Characterized by casual clothing like a simple pair of jeans or a skirt with a white tee, natural rosy skin, slicked back bun and plain gold earrings, the message that the aesthetic wanted to exude was that sophistication comes from a non-chalant lifestyle. It stood for bringing beauty back to basics. The micro trend started being associated with luxury in a very familiar pattern we've seen in visual cultures, that co-relate minimalism with aristocracy. As a response to this, color came back sometime last year with graphic eyeliners, different types of maximalist jewellery and a sort of 'over-expression' that was subdued by the former clean girl aesthetic.
The same boldness and unrestrained playfulness of expression undercurrents Delhi-based visual artist Anand's art. Known for his self-published comics and zines, Anand's style is informed by the colourful history of Indian comics and an authentic characterization that is as unique as one's handwriting, which always a great attribute for a cartoonist to have. His zine, Stories from Zoo, about people stuck in questionable predicaments, was featured in The Comic Journal Yearbook among the 'best of 2023'. Bringing the same absurdity and animation to the 3D format, Anand recently dropped a sculpture collection featuring cats, aliens, monkeys, dogs and more.
"Making sculpture was probably the first creative endeavor of mine as a kid. Even before the drawings", the artist shares. The narrative he wishes these sculptures to have is one of beings from a post world/post apocalyptic time. The storyline he imagines is that all traces of civilization have vanished and all the plastic we left behind has degraded, leaving behind only a slump of plaster of paris in the ocean. Out of this remnant, emerge creatures that embody the ideas from a world which does not exist.
Anand's sculptures remind me of clay figurines that I would see in village fairs as a kid. Being from a small town which is known for its Adivasi culture, the bright colours and obscure, intentionally misshapen silhouettes were the most attractive aspects of these toys. In hindsight, they also, like Anand's sculptures, stood against a clean girli-fication of objects, practices and notions of beauty in general. Anand's quirky cats & aliens, with names that are just as charmingly odd as they are, embody an imaginative playfulness of expression that is deeply comforting in a world infected by perfectionism.
Follow Anand here.
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