Jyoti Bharwani

I had the chance to interview London-based artist Jyoti Bharwani who uses a variety of materials to craft her cosmic-like works.

Vasanas of Stone Series II by Jyoti Bharwani

Tell me about your background.

Drawing and painting became a passion for me as soon as I was introduced to art in primary school. I grew up in the Channel Islands, a third culture kid with diasporic roots. I found that nature and the environment like the sandy and cliffy coastlands and country lane flora was captivating to draw and find contentment in. My enthusiasm to engage with years of painting and drawing drove my application to art school, and I got a place at Chelsea School of Art for a foundation course and then went on to Central St. Martins for a degree. After graduation, I spent a year or so making work without a studio, but I found it difficult to sustain with an absence of art community to feel connected. I decided to pursue a career in a fashion company to earn a regular salary and have a family. Fast forward 10 years or so, and I just had a yearning to start painting again. I began by using a space on a 2-foot square section of a rug at home, and before I knew it that space became 10-foot square, and large-scale abstract canvases began to pop up out of nowhere. It’s almost as if the 10 years of no painting was 10 years of paintings waiting to be painted. I was rather embarrassed about it at first, I made a series of large-scale canvases based on elemental flow through the seasons. Friends and then the wider community started taking an invested interest, wanting to buy the work, and a practice was reborn for me. It became apparent that I needed a studio, and could do with some gallery representation, but the thought of approaching galleries seemed way out of my comfort zone.

At the same time, I started to network around London and join local groups where artists could meet and talk shop. It was at the same time that the idea came to me to find a studio space which could double up as a gallery to show work informally to clients, and also have artists round for fun salon evenings to discuss each others’ work. That’s how PaintSpaces Studio & Gallery was born. It’s not a shop-fronted gallery, more an informal drop in by appointment, you never know what you might find. Our current collaborative is a group of 5 wonderful female artists with a common interest to pursue domestic alchemy in the form of making our own mediums, naturally sourced, be it oil paint, ink or dyed yarn. With lockdown, we’ve taken our project onto Instagram as @paintspaces_gallery, and when it’s safe to do so, we’ll host a public facing showcase of our work at PaintSpaces.

Vasanas of Stone I (detail) by Jyoti Bharwani

What ideas are you exploring in your work?

Once I established the studio, I felt the need to delve deeper into the inherent themes, subjects and territories within my work; I enrolled on an MA fine art course at City and Guilds London Art School. At the college through research and analysing the subjects and methods I used, and the interests and inherent dynamics from past works, I learnt more about what really drove my practice. Research for me is not always the information you find in encyclopaedias, more so the data from communication around us as humans. The way we interact with each other, our environment, how we treat our stuff, and in essence how it feeds back into us. Much like the diasporic experience embedded in my awareness from earlier generations, I aim to discover and experiment with materials which harness Vasanas (embedded behavioural traits and habits) of their past journeys. These traits and impressions connect with reality, and we are entangled within it; it defines our illusionistic notion of control and boundary; and that’s a thread of what I’d like the work to communicate. Through the materials I use, these traits can manifest, and it’s like an alchemical transformation, a redistribution of levels of power and hierarchical order. It’s like throwing a heap of dust in the air, and watching it settle in its own order. That excites me!

Tell me about your artistic process.

I’ve developed a way to work with several materials at the same time, incorporating research along the way, so I can’t quite track where the beginning or end really is. I allow the processes to feed into each other through the changing chance of how they are being made. For example, in the morning I will work on a cast glass maquette informed by some sketchy collages I’ve made the evening before, and in the afternoon I’ll carry imagery and experience from that process into the etching studio where I reproduce this experience by enlarging interesting sections and shapes I’ve discovered. At the same time, I’ll have a few canvases on the go, and keep adding fine layers. It’s like juggling. It is also a fluid and open way to let things happen, rather than being overly controlling. I like to use many means to represent impressions of earthly journeys, so I’m tuned in to crush, print, collage, paint or carve material to see what it can do.

Vasanas of Stone Modular Set II by Jyoti Bharwani

Can you share about the evolution of your practice?

Up until a couple of years ago, my practice mainly focused on oil paint on canvas. I was interested in how paint could be filtrated into fine sprays onto canvas, like an alchemical transformation. Once I started the MA, there was an abundance of workshops available for making cast glass, custom stretcher bars and etchings. This coincided with an in-depth research-led enquiry into my own practice, and I was drawn to the different media to drive my practice further. In essence the materials and processes drove the body of work, and making objects and artwork using these processes simultaneously really helped develop the meaning of what I really wanted the work to say. With painting, I felt the need to soften the straight edge of the canvas because it was restricting the human eye’s response to borders and infinite space. I decided to carve the edges of my stretcher bars, to give a softer appearance and notion of expanse. I soon noticed that the curves and arcs achieved more than just softness.  They lay a narrative of journeys with no predisposed destination, of portals and windows, cycles of life and boundaries that dissolve and disappear, only to resurface and remerge renewed, rejuvenated and stronger.

Which artists do you look to for inspiration?

• Bharti Kher - for her artwork informed by Tantra.

• Katherina Grosse – for her innovative use & curation of paint and earth.

• Shilpa Gupta – for her ability to meld disparate materials together to form a narrative of borders and nation states.

Vasanas of Stone Modular Set IV by Jyoti Bharwani

Which 3 artists do you enjoy at the moment?

Artists I enjoy the most at the moment are my peers who are finding ways to navigate and make work in light of the lockdown. It never ceases to amaze me how innovative artists can be when faced with finding creative solutions to make work with limited resources. I can’t thank these artists – Ema Mano Epps @emamanoepps , Geraldine Van Heemstra @geraldinehvh & Alex Sivov @alexandrasivov9603 enough for the positive influence they have given me over lockdown. 

I’m also grateful for the circle of influence and support that the community at City and Guilds art school have given – all the art students (they are amazing!), the Head of Fine Art -Robin Mason & Headteacher -Tamiko O Brien all influence and support our journey through the education system for the love of creativity.

Efflorescent Shakti by Jyoti Bharwani

What is the most memorable thing someone has said about your work?

Anyone at all who takes the time to comment or engage with the work is memorable to me. I value exchange, and some of the comments that have stuck in my head over the years are: 

‘The taut canvas has a resonance of music, particularly those drum instruments that you tap either side. (tabla drums)’ I.R

‘Feels like slices of the cosmos’ T.W

‘I can see behaviours & organic elements floating around each other’ RJ

What would be a dream project for you?

Some of the most exciting projects I’ve undertaken have been commissions where my artwork has transformed small spaces, or custom paintings I’ve made for large wall spaces. I enjoy engaging with other people’s ideas and interests. I also value having worked with other artists collectively to cultivate research and delve into each others’ processes through experiential learning.

In the future, I’d like to continue doing all of this and my dream project would be to make work for large or small public spaces and museums.

You can follow Jyoti Bharwani @paintspaces_studio.