In ‘The Portfolio of…’ I feature one designer a day and give all of you a chance to share your work with the world. A lot of you are looking for ways to share your work, get your name out, reach possible clients, you name it… We’re here to help! Submit your portfolio for a chance to get featured here. Today it’s time to show you a selection of the works of Gloria Bhargava.
Gloria Bhargava: I often think of my art as satirical, critical, and lyrical. Bending and breaking the rules of contemporary art, I try to adopt a paradoxical way of looking at the world through my own set of lenses. I grew up within a confined community of international school students in the outskirts of Bangkok, where I was sheltered from the seediness, crime, and poverty that surrounded me. By default, I was made unaware of the social disparity gap that widened further and further, the older I got. I spoke English to my peers, I studied under an American system, and I behaved like a Westerner. Essentially, I was a foreigner in my own country. My art, therefore, visually juxtaposes between the American dreams and the Bangkok slums, the absurd representations of vintage Hollywood glamor and the failed aspirations of many local dreamers, the deconstruction of the notion of beauty and the ridiculous ways in which people pursue it. Apart from this, having observed firsthand how classism and gender inequality plays on the psyche of those chained to these prejudices, I also like to portray these elements in my art, playing with humor and irony, urging society to be more introspective and less cavalier about these issues that subtly plague us everyday.
These themes are then combined using pieces from vintage magazines, old textbooks, antique photographs, and even borrowed linens. Then depending on my mood and tone of the piece, I splatter acrylic paint, create paint drips, spray paint the image or treat the paper with heat or even burn entire pieces of paper to create ash, which is later pasted onto my work. I find the process of creation extremely therapeutic because it allows me to not only immerse myself in creativity, something that I already derive pleasure from, but every new technique I learn encourages me to step out of my comfort zone a little more each time, breaking down the barrier between me and the outside society I come into contact with. It allows me to view society in an objective manner, creating pieces that neither condemns nor praise society, but also subjective in the emotions that I inject into my pieces. And for this, I am proud to be a part of a societal revolution, one that I help create.
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