“I call this style ‘Reductionism’, where the art pieces show complex scenes through simple lines and recurring components,” says 25-year-old Chandigarh-based designer and artist Sushant Sharma aka @sushisurge on the gram. A disruptive artist with a distinct visual grammar, Sharma creates monochrome abstract artworks that in many ways depict complex human emotions and weave narratives. At first glance, the artwork might look like a black line aesthetically routed on the canvas, but more often than not, you can find what look like faces.
“My art pieces often gather inspiration from things and situations around me. I start out by journaling scenes/characters that best depict my narrative and then figure out a way to reduce those elements to their core essence; often asking myself, ‘How much can I take away from a face for it to still look like a face,” he tells me.
Inspired by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring whose art he believes exceeded traditional mediums, canvases and galleries, Sushant caters to viewers beyond the esoteric art community. He says he wishes “to create a similar impact in elevating the dawning Indian modern art movement and street culture.”
An artist whose art expresses narratives, figures and social comments by reducing elements to their core essence, he creates work across mediums whether it is on clothing, canvases or installations (of which he wishes to do more). Talking about the purpose behind his art, he says, “When it comes to execution, I believe that art is not just meant to be hung on walls and has the potential to expand to a wide range of formats like clothing, footwear, installations, performances etc.”
Out of all his artworks so far, he says his favourite is a canvas piece titled ‘Abandoning 17’. Drawing inspiration from his childhood and his city, the artwork he says “...runs quite close to my heart as it stems from my childhood nostalgia. The artwork shows the transformation of Chandigarh’s sector 17 plaza from being the glorious heart of the city to losing its hustle and bustle because of the new malls and centres.”
An interesting artist of our times, Sushisurge is sure to make an impact on the art and street culture of the Indian scene and is definitely an artist to watch out for.
You can checkout his work here.
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