Recent Works by Vipul Kumar
Curated by Anita Dube
Clay begins with earth. Practice gives it form. Fire transforms it.
Tap and Tapish brings together a new body of ceramic works by Vipul Kumar, curated by Anita Dube. The exhibition explores two forces central to Kumar’s artistic practice. Tap, तप, speaks of sustained practice, concentration and the discipline of returning to the work. Tapish brings heat into the equation, referring to the force of the kiln that transforms fragile clay into fired form.
Kumar works from Bhainslana in Rajasthan, a village known for its black marble quarries. Away from the metropolitan centres of the Indian art world, he has developed a deeply physical studio practice shaped by the realities of making. Clay, stone, tools and finished sculptures occupy the same space, while classical music accompanies his long hours in the studio. His works emerge through repetition, patience and close attention to material.
Kumar’s relationship with sculpture began with stone carving, an experience that continues to inform his approach to clay. Stone taught him about weight, resistance and the physical demands of working with form. Clay opened up another set of possibilities. It could be built, shaped and altered by hand before entering the kiln, where heat completes a transformation that begins with the artist.
Ceramics entered Kumar’s life almost by chance and gradually became a lifelong commitment. Over decades of working with clay, he has developed a body of sculpture that moves between abstraction and recognisable form. His works draw from mythology, cultural memory, landscape and the physical qualities of earth, while retaining a strong awareness of the material itself.
The recent sculptures have a powerful physical presence, yet their concerns are quieter. Nature, memory, thought and the relationship between human beings and their surroundings remain close to the work.
Anita Dube describes Kumar’s practice as transforming “the fragility and tenderness of wet clay into a fired strength of bone”. The phrase captures the material journey at the heart of the exhibition. Wet clay is responsive and vulnerable. Fire permanently alters it. The finished sculpture carries the history of the hand, the time spent building it and the heat that finally fixes its form.
For Kumar, this relationship with material extends to the environment. “The environment is what I am interested in,” he has said. His understanding of the environment begins with the material itself. Clay is earth. Water makes it workable. Air prepares it. Fire transforms it. The sculpture becomes part of a process that is far older than the artist.
Kumar’s thinking has also been shaped by encounters with Kabir, Gandhi and Buddhist thought, as well as his experiences in Varanasi and Sarnath. His artistic formation includes the influence of teachers and mentors such as Balbir Singh Katt and Himmat Shah. These experiences have gradually settled into an individual language rooted in his sustained engagement with making.
Tap and Tapish brings these strands together through a selection of recent ceramic works. The title describes the journey of the work itself. Tap is the discipline of making. Tapish is the heat that changes what has been made.
Earth becomes form. Form enters fire. What emerges carries both the touch of the artist and the force of transformation.
Exhibition Details
Exhibition
Tap and Tapish
Recent Works by Vipul Kumar
Curator
Anita Dube
Dates
15 to 21 September
Hours
10 AM to 6 PM
Venue
CCA Building, Bikaner House, New Delhi