Harminder Judge Talk

Harminder Judge Talk

Today i have attended a talk by Harminder Judge at university. He works with: performance, sculptures with attributes from paintings, videos and installations.

Judge began the talk by showing us Indian Tantra paintings from the 1700s.

These pieces are beautiful and apparently more so in person. Unfortunately there have only been 2 exhibitions in the western hemisphere since their creation, the last one was in the 70s, Judge said he has one in the works fortunately. The oval that commonly appears in these pieces represent ones body in space. They are byproducts of meditation which makes them transcendental and trans-formative. Judge describes them as portals and schismatics to the universe. I think the meaning of the pieces is where the beauty in them is brought to life. I don’t mean that in a way of appreciating the pieces for formal elements entirely, for their spiritual influence as well.

Judge then went on to show us two of his performance pieces. The first piece was called ‘Modes of Al-Ikseer‘.

https://vimeo.com/190617359

The performance was 1 hour long, with Judge being the feature, his costume acting as a sculpture in a way. Judge described the creative process for this process as researching into Hindu prophesies, which led him to find the narrative for this piece, i cannot remember the  name of the story it is based on. the performance was huge and consisted of many elements such as: 2500 litres of milk, aluminium, steel, laser projected animation, rotating aluminium sculpture, l.e.d. lighting, sound, live drumming, neon, pigments, oil, wax, powdered pigment. pigment was dropped from above by machines which then turned the surface of the milk into a battleground for a creation much like a temporary painting. The lighting also played a part in this. The piece described with one word is rebirth. The climax of this rebirth is expressed is when the drummers come out and play Depeche Mode. The lead up is this beautiful transformation. 

I think this performance is beautiful as the lights/lasers and the pigment create a mysterious stage for the performance to commence on. the journey of rebirth is represented as intense but also mesmerising. The use of lights on a blank surface has me thinking about what i can do with mixing lights on a blank surface and how I could document it. 

Judge then showed us his next piece, which he has was crucial to come after  ‘Modes of Al-Ikseer‘ as  this version is a more sinister adaptation of it.the name of the piece is ‘ With Lust To Touch The Next ‘.

https://vimeo.com/190481192

The performance entails Judge being lowered into a body of viscous liquid for 30 minutes to then be lifted back into the air for another 30 minutes. This performance also expresses rebirth but in a darker expression. This piece is made using: 6000 litres of black natrosol, winch & harness, lasers, fog, sound, pigment, oil, wax. The element of an organism being submerged in a liquid totally foreign to everyday life is interesting to me as it gives me a sense of trauma.

After Judge showed us his house building project to raise money to attend the Royal Academy of Arts, he displayed and talked about his most recent sculptural paintings. He used plaster from his house project to make these oval pieces in reference to the tantra pieces.

The plaster is combined with a polymer for strength and pigment to define form. The mixtures are applied layer by layer and when the piece is thick enough he sands the bottom surface down to reveal the beauty within. These are amazing as they exhibit a contemporary spin on the tantra paintings. They express just as much meaning as the tantra paintings. The medium of sculpture gives them more dominance and presence compared to the paintings. The fact that they are stone like, makes them feel more primal and found than the obviously hand made paintings. I cannot say either have more spiritual meaning as they are very different works. These sculptures are the outcome of chance, Judge doesn’t know what he will find when he reveals the layers. Where as, the original tantra paintings are made with creative vision. This of course is an observation rather than a criticism because Judge isn’t recreating the tantra paintings in a different form. 

Over all, this talk was very inspiring as he talked about ways he has brought spiritual self into his art. I have hesitated against the idea of bringing spiritualism into my practice as I was worried people wouldn’t get it, but hearing how successful he has been with that concept being the base for his work, i can appreciate that it has proven to me that everyone can relate to expressions of the spiritual self.