Ashwini Bhat

Ashwini Bhat




Experience is kinetic. understanding experience is static. This creates a paradox. By the time we digest and understand reality, it no longer exists. An example of this might occur in a crowded public space, such as a train station. In the crowd, you glance and see a beautiful person. In the moment it took your eyes to snag that image and register it as attractive, the person melds back into the crowd. In a sense, we are always playing catch-up. The process of making objects out of clay layers moments of freezing the fluid. Arguably the most essential skill for an artist working directly with clay is balancing stiffness and fluidity. Indian artist Ashwini Bhat brilliantly achieves this balance with her woodfired ceramics. Each element of her work – its form, finish and subject expressed – illustrates a paradox of stillness representing motion