Dynamics of Art

On her first visit to the city,London-based artist Dido Powell talks about the role art plays in design and innovation

London-based artist Dido Powells work speaks volumes about her. The bold strokes and unexpected angles offer inspiration by providing a source of abstract distortion for Powell. Her preference for strong,deep colours reflect her experiences of living in Ghana and visiting warm countries. An artwork titled Dream Olympia illustrates it well,with a dark,naked woman lying on a bed of bold,wild flowers. The contrast between the vibrant colours and the serene,sleeping face of the woman,makes for a startling discrepancy.

Powell,who studied Fine Arts at Leeds University,visited Pune for the first time to speak at a design seminar held on Thursday,by DYPDC Center for Automotive Research. As students and professionals took their seats at the Sumant Moolgaonkar Auditorium in MCCIA Trade Tower,Powell drew a comparison between contemporary arts treatment of speed and mechanisation with that of the early Modernists. Hundred years ago,there was not just an optimistic excitement about all forms of transport,but also a coherent desire to break from previous traditions by experimenting and competing with science and innovation. By contrast,in todays more fractured artistic scene,there are often rifts between the personal vision of creatives,fresh kinds of production and new technology, said Powell.

She,however,added that there are many facets which connect art to speed,beauty,excitement or even danger. Some works of art incorporate speed into contemporary design like Richard Wilsons Slipstream,which will be unveiled at Heathrow Airport,London,in 2014. Slipstream is an ambitious sculpture that combines precision engineering with the sense of velocity and movement of a stunt plane, said Powell. The sculptures aluminium form describes the shape a stunt plane would carve through space,starting as an abstract volume,before becoming recognisable at its furthermost point.

Chiefly painting still life,people,interiors and landscapes,Powell scrutinises them from unexpected angles and crops them sharply. She explores transgression in scale between objects and their settings,evoking curious and uncanny moods in the beholder. Asked to pick one artwork that shes most proud of,Powell was stumped. From the top of my head,I can think of a painting of my daughter,in a sort of a dream. I painted her sleeping and tranquil, she said.

Powell,who maintains that her teaching of art history influences her painting,said she always revisits a painting after taking a small break near its completion. When I finally go back to it,I have a fresh perspective chiefly about where to stop, she said.

Talking about Pune,she said,I visited Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum the other day. Their collection of daily objects from an era gone by just amazed me. It is sort of like art how it documents our evolution, she said.

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