The Art Square at Aerocity, Delhi, becomes a striking public art destination with artist Vikash Kalra’s larger-than-life stainless-steel sculptures, disseminated across the high-end outdoor promenade
It is a warm sunny afternoon on Sunday, and folks are gathering around the shiny Lord Ganesha sculpture that dons the outdoor esplanade at Aerocity Mall, taking selfies as well as family photos. Artist Vikash Kalra sits in the shade and smiles satisfactorily, “I love it when people interact with my art,” says Kalra whose forged steel sculptures are displayed at the Square Aerocity till 15th April. Presented by GMR Aerocity in association with Dhoomimal Gallery and HELM Experiential, the public art project is engineered to create a moment of stillness amid the buzzing city crowd. In a place defined by arrivals and departures, the works invite viewers to pause, reflect and reconnect with art in the middle of an urban landscape.
The Lord Ganesha sculpture is monumental at 145 inches in height, 106 inches in width with an 85 inches front. It captures him sitting upon the Sheshnag—the seven headed protective serpent symbolizing cosmic eternity. He has a book, a lotus and a Trishul in his hands and he is performing the Abhaya Mudra with his front arm. Shining in the sun the mirrored facades of the sculpture become a philosophical threshold, reorienting the gaze from the external to the internal.
There are other sculptures, like a mother and child huddled together. This is possibly the infant Jesus and mother Mary, or Yashoda and Krishna—as Kalra has left it open to interpretation. Another work features a large female figure standing with hands on her hips looking confident and in charge—a women of her times. There is also a large head, done in the typical Kalra style with the sharp coming together of lines and planes in a cubistic manner bringing an air of modernity to age old themes taken from the scriptures.
“I have long had the desire to show large sculptures in a space like Aero City and I have finally manifested this desire,” says Kalra who began engaging with sculpture since 2008. A self-taught artist, Kalra began his artistic career as a painter, in the early 2000s. Earlier he was in the book business, selling books and magazines on art, architecture and lifestyle, at kiosks around the city. It is with sheer determination and dedication that Kalra made his presence felt in the competitive art world, taking inspiration from artists like F N Souza, Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon.
“I have a special relationship with Lord Ganesha, because he is the bearer of good tidings and prosperity, he is also mischievous and moreover he is the son of Lord Shiva. I have been a Shiva devotee all my life,” says Kalra who painted a series of over 100 portraits of Lord Shiva as one of his series for Dhoomimal. The father son relationship is special to Karla given that he has two sons himself, one his is a budding Sarangi artist.
However, Kalra’s moments of success and happiness was not easily won. Moving from painting to creating sculpture was a challenging process recalls the artist. “I had created a body of work in fiberglass and clay for an exhibition titled ‘We Are Bangalore’, in 2012. While the exhibition was a big success, for it got a lot of public interaction and appreciation, the large sculptures did not sell and when they were being transported back they all broke. This really disheartened me,” says Kalra who locked away the artwork in his godown, storage for three years. However, it was traveling to cities in Europe, Malaysia, and Dubai that made him revisit his urge to sculpt.
The big uplifting change came when he decided to work in steel. “During COVID I did a lot of research. Previously when I had travelled to Dubai, and I saw how they combatted problems like rust and sand-storms that they were prone to, by using steel as a medium, not just for art but for all their architecture as well,” he recalls.
Kalra had another exhibition at Almost Gods, in 2023-24, an apparel and lifestyle store in Dhan Mills, promoting wearable art. This time he decided to work in copper, and created a high relief sculpture, which was with the store for 2 years and then got sold.
Encourage by his success with hard metals he went on to have an exhibition in 2024 at the Habitat Centre, titled Urban Thoughts where Kalra shared his first set of large steel sculptures. The positive reaction that he got with Habitat has paved the way for this exhibition at Aero City.
“The material gives me power to give shape to my thoughts and I am very glad that I have the chance to share my vision with the urban travellers who visit here and those who live close by. It is a vision of the future and I am inspired to produce more work, which will have a feminist approach,” says Kalra. We cannot wait to see it.
Georgina is an independent critic-curator with 18 years of experience in the field of Indian art and culture. She blurs the lines of documentation, theory and praxis by involving herself in visual art projects. Besides writing on immersive art for STIRworld, she is a regular contributor for The Hindu, MASH Mag and Architectural Digest.
