Emerging Perspectives by Anya Kalsi
- Fred McGrail
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 13
Hey Freddos! Before I get into it I would like to start off by screaming at you that this exhibition was an INCREDIBLE experience. Images I've seen of Anya's work does not do them justice so please go and see the show if you can. It's on at The Hive in Birminghams Jewellery Quarter, you have until the 14th August! GO GO GO!
Those of you that have followed along with my ramblings know that I'm a big fan of texture and mark making, and as you can see, Anya is too. She embodies this profoundly in her work, across the whole collection you'll find these techniques. Whether subtle or obvious, they pull the collection together to make for a spectacular body of work. Me and my friend had a great time getting lost in the surface details!
One piece in-particular stood out to me, 'Pebbles'. I dare you to tell me this doesn't look like it's been back lit. It was this specific example of her utilising light and dark that I was drawn to, here you can evidently see the stark contrast between the two. It so happens to be one of the oldest paintings featured in the show and you can tell, not because it lacks execution but because of how it feels like a launchpad to her later work. Similarly to her sketchbook, which is free for you to peruse, you can feel the exploration in it. You can see where she's falling in love with her process, which elements she decides to leave behind and which she evolves further. As you move from this piece you can see how she's grown and where she perfects her technique. It's as if you are traveling through her developmental process. I've not experienced that before.
Notice she's used some sort of tracing paper to add a transparent layer. This allows us to see the details underneath, although this adds both visual impact and invokes curiosity to look deeper, her more recent pieces she opts for opaque cut outs instead. After walking through her artistic journey I considered why this may not have been a material she utilised again. A few thoughts crossed my mind, was it down to the material itself? Is it not as successful in honouring her chosen themes? The material has the ability to detract from the organic nature of the work and without it, does it better reflect it's purpose? Either way the piece is striking, bold and an essential milestone to the progression of her practice.
Roaming the space was an experience, the suspended installation 'Chromatic Bloom, Assemblage', is an impressive focal point to the exhibition and it catches the tailwind of passer-by's. Coming alive as you move around it, acting as the embodiment of the same movement found within her mark making. Literally bringing it into the physical world, allowing it to dance the same way. It's fascinating, I was captivated. Her whole focus around the art exhibition is taking these tiny details found within nature and enlarging them so that audiences can see them in a new light and this large scale installation encapsulates this perfectly!
Anya says "I'm most proud of how I've been able to carry my own mark making across different mediums while allowing each piece to develop its own identity. Echoes of Entanglement is my favourite piece as I feel it captures this balance and repetition, experimentation and my own visual language."
I agree with her, each work does have its own identity and you'll find a nod to each throughout, either it's her use of colour, materials, or the organic shapes found in various scales, layered either beneath or on top. The various shades of orange and blue are either bold and dominant or found to be subtle in others. Some hold more movement and some feel more still and grounded. You'll feel like you're falling with them or standing solid on two feet at the next. She uses layering and mark making to create depth and the physicality of thick paint to add textured dimension. When she does this the light catches the surface, the exhibition space holds prime lighting conditions to experience the work for all its strengths. The large walls are occupied with the sheer scale, if the works were smaller they wouldn't deliver the impact needed to get a true feel for her intention.
You need to experience the work first hand, get yourselves there. I would love to hear your thoughts. I hope you guys find it as incredible as I did.
Thank you to Rohan and Anna-Mhairi at Punch Records for inviting me to the show and bringing this exhibition to my attention, it's up there as one of my favourites this year!
For accessibility information into the building you can find out more here.
