Nikhil Chopra - Remembering Being There

A framed painting hangs on a wall to imitate a window. In the tradition of landscape painting, the artwork aspires to puncture the wall and give us a glimpse of what lies behind and beyond its surface, while the marks on its surface allude to its object-ness. As we stand in front of at and gaze at it we are caught in the cross fire of what it reminds us of and what it is. Memory then becomes a vital tool to allow for any suspension of disbelief that is required to plunge into the world of the painting. 

To make a painting is to remember a painting. 

For Remembering Being There, I wish to examine the role of landscape painting in my artistic practice. I make live performances that incorporate making drawings of places, real and imagined. Live Art is in a crisis; my personae of the traveller, wanderer, explorer, trekker and nomad are at rest, as the world comes to a standstill, buckling under the effects of a pandemic.