Art and the Cities

After his debut as a fine arts photographer last year with an exhibition titled “Decoded Paradox”,which revolves around photographic black-and-white portraits of personalities wearing his designs,designer JJ Valaya is back with his second exhibition titled “The Soul in the Space (A Journey of Architectural Influences)” at Delhi’s Nature Morte gallery. As opposed to portraits in his last show,Valaya explores architecture as a completely new language and concentrates on three locations that connect with his own biography: Jodhpur,Chandigarh and Scotland.

“After my first show last year,I started planning on working on one show every year,” says the 45-year-old. The walls of the gallery at Neeti Bagh stand out like a blank canvas for the geometrically dynamic photographs. “To me,this was like exploring the geometry of architecture along with a focus on form and a special play on light. This is an amalgamation of several influences on seemingly inanimate buildings,” he adds.

The works exude his intimacy with the three cities he has shot. While Jodhpur is the city of his birth,he was raised in Chandigarh and he credits Scotland in introducing him to architectural photography. Valaya juxtaposes this with his own interpretation. He says,“Scotland is all tin metal,Jodhpur is all stone and Chandigarh is all concrete.”

The exhibition is on at Nature Morte,till November 24 at 10 am to 6 pm. Entry is free. Call 29561596