In Conversation with Pranshu Thakore

What drew you to visual art? Was there a moment or an influence? 

I think I was very drawn to colors and liked drawing as a kid. My mom, she always used to decorate the room with toys, and I would imagine myself in a fantasy world. I would just start making things around it. I never knew the fine art career field ever existed until my teachers introduced me to it. I always thought there was only designing and architecture.I always knew I wanted to do something creative. But I never knew this could be perceived academically too.

What are you creating right now? Any piece that’s consuming your thoughts lately? 

 I am working on a huge composition,there are multiple paintings I’m working on simultaneously. Trying to make, shaped canvases and trying to cut out a few pieces into figures, like the forms itself and I’m trying kinetic. So I want them to be animated, like moving and I’m taking references of all these, Japanese guides and a lot of  kinetic sculptures along with it. I’m working with bamboo, and then I’m making canvas and cutting it out, trying to make it look like a kite. 

Since you’re working with 3D shapes, how do you connect with different styles and forms that you are making?

I think for me, I’ve always been aware of the things around me. It’s just about observing where you are placed. What is your surrounding like? So much material has always been like a stimulation. Most of the time, I’ve been an observant of the objects around me, I try to use them by repurposing, how do you recontextualize an object so that it connects me? That’s how I look at materials and anything that has been discarded. There are times when I’m sculpting myself out of people because I love handcrafting things and I love building things on my own. I find material that stimulates me enough to make something out of it or at times like there should be some sort of get what I’ve had in mind, like tactility and I would want to take it further out of the paper or out of canvas.

What inspires you in your visual journey? 

I have always seen my surroundings and always have been documenting it. And there’s this personal journaling happening through drawings. So, drawings are good. Or maybe let’s say  the clouds out there and very ideally like just existing in the sky. And I would like to have multiple forms of cloud and to define a cloud or to define  how you do that with a line.So all of these things like there’s this constant, questioning happening. I keep on questioning how I can make something out of it. I end up sketching it, and then I make it into a painting. I love looking at things around me, which are part of popular culture. So that helps me with colors. I love that design. I love sketch culture. I love cartoons. I love looking at it.  I do the animation stuff. Or I would be seeing Studio Ghibli  or I’d be watching all the Walt Disney stuff.  These are like major markers for my inspiration, because how can you imagine an octopus to be so sweet and is living like a person, is going to a cafe and there’s this fictional thing happening. So I try to incorporate that, I try to animate objects and things

 How do you want viewers to look at your art?

It’s like my practice is very intuitive and, at times I don’t give  a lot of importance to how my work is being looked at, as in, even though I would have some emotion that has driven me to make some things, but I wouldn’t want the viewer to follow it up. To see it. I think I don’t want to be that controlling because my works are extremely playful in nature. So I would want it to be that way. And, at times when I feel like there’s a message for me, that’s sort of my personal sketchbook or I haven’t incorporated text in my work. But I do give a lot of thought into titling my work, which kind of gives direction to the viewer, and I love titling my work. It’s a good word play that happens. But besides that, in terms of imagery and visuals, there are times when I really want to make it very representational. So you can see, like there’ll be a fish or there’ll be a tiger, or there elements like they’ll be very represented forms and,

Has your relationship with art changed or evolved over the years?

As a kid, I still love doing this. I mean, I still do love doing this. And being a part of academics, me me think why did you have to take it so seriously? Like all the paintings that begin with being in an institution kind of got me more keen as to how I should be making things. What are the possibilities that I can explore. I always wanted to make something or I’m always up to something. So I think my relationship in terms of making has always been the same, although there’s been some sort of creation that happened because of institution and because you decide, you learn a lot of things. You get into theory or you have explored a lot of artists, and then you see what position you fall into, what your contribution to the art community or to the world. It got me thinking consciously about my position as an artist or as a kid out in the world. It just keeps on happening. But just one thing that remains constant is just sneaking into.

 I think I can relate to what you said, since I’ve also had formal training in becoming an artist. That sounds so absurd that you need to have formal training to become an artist, but it is so important at the same time. 

What is one piece of advice you would offer to young artists that are just starting out in the visual art space?

I think, like, I myself am young, no matter what always keep your curiosity.one should always be curious to know and keep on building and then it’s not important that you keep doing something or you keep making, but that will lead you somewhere and it’s just for knowledge. Like you keep learning all the time. And I think there is a lot of mystery that’s left to be desired by us. And that’s the magical part of our life. We should thrive on this. thrive on curiosity. I think it’s all a question like, “How’s that happening?” How’s this? Well that will just leave you to discover your surroundings. There’s always light coming out of that. You’ll see something if you keep following it. I know like the chaos, the chaotic part gets so difficult.But I think we can get out of it.

Which artist’s work usually inspires you? Whether it is the master or a peer or someone totally out of the art world?

I think over these years, including my academy, it’s been ten years now as I’m getting into this field, my inspirations have kept on changing over the years. I’ve changed this thinking with different ideas visually over the years. I started off with, looking at one of my professors’ work and seeing that, inspired me to  have introduced myself to Australian Aboriginal, back in those days. And, I really got into it because I never understood. what should I be looking at with the kind of visuals I was making? So I found an appropriate reference to look at. And then I got to looking at Australian Aboriginal art and then I was also introduced to Indian tribal art. I read a book about it and it explored the imaginary side and explored things like that into materiality. So  looking at how they deal with mediums, why you should be working with it. I was looking at things like a very Indian centric cultural life. The only thing that interested me was how they deal with materials, how they deal with stories, the imaginary and then I picked a  part of it that kind of interested me a lot. After moving to London, I was intensively looking at animations.So I tried to incorporate that into my work Netflix animation, USA animations, and it was part of my thesis as well. And then I’m also looking at global cultures, like how everybody has some sort of myth that they follow all the mythologies. What stories? Then pandemic happened, so I started questioning its existence. I went deep down the grave and I read about Darwin’s theory and then some sort of psychological stuff talking about men and symbols. So incorporating symbols into my paintings, looking at life forms as symbols. So all these readings were happening. 

What keeps you busy when you’re not creating? When you’re not at the studio, what else do you like to do?

 Be, so when I’m not creating anything, I tend to clean up my studio, like starting fresh with new works, or else I’m just sketching in my sketchbook. Or I’m gardening, I love gardening, I eat stuff that I grow. I also like reading or discovering music. I love music.Yeah, mostly sketching. Doing artsy things. Even when you’re not being artsy, that’s all yours. And I love cooking. Cooking is very therapeutic. You know, I think it also helps me sometimes.

Thank you so much for giving such an insightful interview but it was a great interview. Thank you so much.

Featuring Image Courtesy: Gallery 27

To watch the full interview head to our YouTube Channel Art with Abir