Geometry in Art

This,however,is not Despont’s first visit to India. In 2009-10,she spent a year travelling around the country on a Fulbright Fellowship — a merit-based grant for international educational exchange. “I saw the cave paintings in Ajanta and Ellora,the architecture in Rajasthan and a number of Jain temples,” she says. Then she travelled to Pondicherry where she met a French-Canadian mountaineer whom she recently married. While their actual wedding was in Canada,their “spiritual wedding”,she says,was held at a venue a few hours from Jodhpur last month,with the mehndi still brightly visible on her hands and feet.

It was during this trip three years ago that the artist conceived the idea of this exhibition,titled “Long Distance Gardening”. “I’ve always been inspired by traditional art,religious iconography and Indian miniature work,” she says. Apart from these artistic influences,she was inspired by the colours she saw during her time in the country. “I know it’s a cliché,but the colours I saw here were very refreshing and inspiring,” says Despont.

As with all her other work on these ledger pages,these drawings,too,lie between two genres. “My work tries to find a balance between the abstract and the figurative. Sometimes there are eyes and faces that are apparent,but I usually like to leave it open to interpretation,” she says.

In the two largest works on the ground floor of the gallery,for instance,Long Distance Gardening,Left Palm and Long Distance Gardening,Right Palm,the viewer might easily spot two human figures in dresses,or kurtas,with outstretched arms. From up close,however,each page appears to have a different,yet beautiful intricate pattern.

Like these,much of Despont’s other work consists of framed drawings placed side-by-side,like a diptych. This pattern of couples,she says,developed after she started drawing on these ledger pages. “The format of a book (with left and right pages) changed how I drew,” she says. “This left and right is about symmetry,to create balance in my work,” she says.

In the two panels of Long Distance Gardening,for instance,she explains that the two figures could well be a couple whose outstretched arms meet when the panels are brought together.

While a majority of her work consists of two panels placed next to each other,not all depict human couples. A series of four smaller works titled Constellation Symptom,done on pages she picked up in Jodhpur,for instance,show celestial objects,as the name suggests. “I’ve always been interested in the night sky and constellations,” she says. “And these are also couples in a way,the two panels show the balance in a relationship.”