SONNY SANJAY VADGAMA

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1 SONNY SANJAY VADGAMA

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3 Foreword It is a great pleasure to write this foreword for Sonny Sanjay Vadgama s exhibition catalogue. Although I have known Sonny and his work for only three years, since 2009 when he became a joint recipient of the first Parasol unit EXPOSURE Award, my admiration for him both as an artist and as a person has grown considerably. I believe Sonny is just the kind of artist we would all like to see many more of one who approaches his work with passion, knowledge, innovation and integrity. I am sure he will continue to contribute greatly to the field of the moving image. From the outset of his career the medium of the moving image was no novelty to Sonny. Prior to attending art school he had worked as a television producer, the experience of which gave him a huge advantage and a sense of ease with the medium that enabled him to be experimental and innovative. Later, at art school, Sonny concentrated on sculpture, which has subsequently become, in various guises, a protagonist in his work. Equipped with crucial knowledge and a sense of curiosity about the world around him, Sonny embarked on his artistic career. Having left behind the limitations of television he has approached the moving image as a threedimensional entity in which images appear to reach a physical malleability and engulf the viewer. In this regard Sonny s work reminds me of a remarkable work, One half of August, 2011, by the celebrated Chinese filmmaker, Yang Fudong (1971 ), in which images go far beyond being merely three-dimensional by turning into objects and forcefully establishing themselves within the spectator s space. Sonny is a twenty-first-century artist with an extraordinary curiosity and openness to what happens around him. He knows and acknowledges the delicate balance on which art and artistic activities rest in our time: here a scientific discovery, there a heavy bag of history and, finally, the explosion of social and political issues emerging everywhere. Although the medium of his work is the moving image, the content of Sonny s work stands solidly on human strengths and frailties. From reality to the imagined, from the familiar to unfamiliar it generates an uncanny characteristic and in the process mixes joy and celebration with disorder and destruction. In this, Sonny has not only acknowledged his understanding of entropy an important law in modern physics, quantum mechanics but also his acceptance that this is a significant characteristic of the time in which we live. Dr. Ziba Ardalan

4 Eye for an Eye, 2009, Video, Ed.: 3, 2:37 min

5 Eye for an Eye, 2009, Video, Ed.: 3, 2:37 min

6 Eye for an Eye, 2009, Video, Ed.: 3, 2:37 min

7 Eye for an Eye, 2009, Video, Ed.: 3, 2:37 min

8 Eye for an Eye, 2009, Video, Ed.: 3, 2:37 min

9 THAT SPACE BETWEEN The works in this exhibition are deeply related to the title above and as such represent fragments of an overall question. One could assert that it is a multifaceted question, but for the sake of simplicity we could say it generally focuses on the great balancing act that constantly courses through all nature and its by-products. It acts as a continuation of my thoughts that are interested in cyclical events and social entropy; with regards to the latter, it was a deeper analysis of the journey from order to chaos. In one respect, this could be applied on a micro level, that being the human body and keeping our physical and mental state in harmony. However, history has proven many times over that this is a delicate system that can easily find its balance altered in planned or unplanned ways. In many respects this micro world is mirrored on a macro level too. A mass collective or country also exists in quite a fragile balance, for instance. Unforeseen events can take place and radically alter the surrounding environment; the system seeming to have order can rapidly become unsettled. During the late 1980s, the term 'self organised criticality' emerged as a means of theoretically describing these sudden and drastic changes. A poignant example to explain this model utilised a 'sandpile' upon which further grains of sand were continuously added. Eventually, and often without warning, an avalanche would erupt and the grains would tumble to the earth. It is this exact unpredictable nature that I find so fascinating, as well as the events that follow. Ultimately one can never truly predict when things will happen. Maybe it is this lack of predictability that often allows self organised criticality to manifest until it reaches this tipping point. Questions are often only asked once the 'sandpile' has collapsed. When considering the paragraph above it's hard to form a definitive statement about each work as the subject matter itself proves that 'definitive' is a somewhat futile word. Questions, like human behaviour are adaptable and have the capacity to evolve with our understanding of a subject. The thoughts and research that constructed these works hence corresponded to this adaptable quality. The fascinating element of working like this was the 'feedback loop' one creates. As the work develops so too does the questions and this subsequently fuels a further evolution of the work itself. The materials used follow a similar cyclical development pattern. Emerging ideas and research made me want to challenge the material used to create work. Video was no longer a linear output but rather a malleable material that one could almost sculpt. Sonny Sanjay Vadgama

10 Akrasia, 2011 Holographic projection / optics, 100cm x 150cm

11 Matter, 2010 Holographic projection / optics, 59 x 48 cm

12 Chaoskampf, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 3:45 min

13 Chaoskampf, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 3:45 min

14 Chaoskampf, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 3:45 min

15 Chaoskampf, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 3:45 min

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18 Atlas, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 2:57 min

19 Atlas, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 2:57 min

20 Atlas, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 2:57 min

21 Atlas, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 2:57 min

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23 Poised on an Edge, 2011 Video, Ed.: 3, 2:45 min

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25 metaphysical questions applied across a macro and micro spectrum Sonny Sanjay Vadgama's art impresses through its tremendous emotional tension within the creative process itself, in the topics he represents, and in the levels he chooses in order to express them, the high sensitivity of their presentation and the non-resolution of the contradictions inherent in these issues. It is more or less an expression of his philosophical worldview. He uses his chosen medium as a logical continuation of traditional artistic media in order to exceed their natural limits. He manages to use and develop the video medium as a form of artistic expression in its own perfection, both formally and theoretically, as well as in the immediate emotional and aesthetic response of the viewer. The focus of his video works, which are often based on digitally manipulated found material, is the artistic approach to the "space between" chaos and order, war and peace, creation and destruction. The spectrum of his work ranges from intensely experienced personal moments to highly political and cultural positions the narrative approach sways between extremes which to him are part of the same entity. His works explore those transformative moments in which order threatens to tilt into chaos, referring to the fragility of perceived safety and the existing order. For the artist, it is not about judgment, but rather a metaphysical interest in the various nuances of extremes - whether relating to individual experience or constructed realities of social systems. Vadgama also addresses the circular relationship between the micro level and the macro level. For instance, in his work "Poised On An Edge", the video shows an eye which looks directly at the viewer. A tear is welling up on its surface. The work portrays the shifting boundaries between chaotic emotionally and physically controlled states and depicts an intimate and personal moment. The surrounding world is reflected in the tear and refers to the macro level, which in turn affects the individual emotional experience. He also considers his artistic work as an open, organic process: The work of art is the result of an iterative approach in which the creative process is bound to feedback processes. Thus, technical implementation and theoretical as well as thematic connections interact with each other and allow for interdisciplinary discourse. In this sense, the processual interaction between the different levels is extended to include the viewer and the spatial context in which the work of art is presented: Each artwork triggers different associations and subjective feelings within the viewer, which vary according to each particular disposition. The quintessence is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. The special nature of Sonny Sanjay Vadgama's art lies in the thoroughness with which philosophy and methodology enter into a symbiotic relationship. The combination of his aesthetic imagery, which communicates emotionality in a special way, with narrative structures that are capable of mapping the complex theoretical ideas of the artist, allows his works to become highly meaningful experiences that confront an ever more rapid and transient world - using its very own media: the video. Hannah Linder

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29 Wince one, 2012 Lambda Print, 59,4 x 42.2cm

30 Wince two, 2012 Lambda Print, 38 x 59.4cm

31 A World Within, 2012 Lambda Print, 38 x 59.4cm

32 CV SONNY SANJAY VADGAMA 1981 born in London, England lives and works in London, England EDUCATION Central St Martins College of Art and Design, London UK B.A Fine Art [First Class Honours] Kungliga Konsthögskolan (Royal College of Fine Art Stockholm) [Erasmus Exchange] Byam Shaw School of Art and Design Fine Art Foundation Diploma [Distinction] SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2012 Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany 2011 That Space Between, Arts Gallery, London, England (curated by Angelica Sule) Misericord, Gallery Bastard, Stockholm Sweden 2009 Eye For An Eye - Artist?, Galway, Ireland (curated by Mary Nally) SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2011 Homespun, Devi Art Foundation, Dehli, India (curated by Girish Shahane) Video Box, Beirut Art Fair (ME.NA.SA.ART), Beirut, Lebanon Al Ghaib, Aesthetics of the disappearance, Stux Gallery, New York USA; Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE (curated by Gaia Serena Simionati) Initiation au mystére, Soirée nomade de la Fondation Cartier pour l art contemporain, Paris, France (screening curated by Grazia Quaroni) 2010 Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious In Everyday Life, The Science Museum, London, England (curated by Dr Caterina Albano) 2010 Catlin Art Prizes 2010, Village Underground, London, England 2009 Future Map 09, London, England (curated by Meideia Cohan) Exposure 09, Sonny Sanjay Vadgama, Mark Dennis and Chris Gomersall, Parasol Unit, London, England (curated by Ziba Ardalan) Construct/Deconstruct, Art Concept Store, Stockholm, Sweden St. Martins BA Fine Art Degree show 2009, Central St. Martins College, London, England 2008 In Fragments, Ada Street Gallery, London, England Res o nance, Loop Festival, Barcelona, Spain; Fredsgatan Project Rooms, Stockholm, Sweden GRANTS AND AWARDS 2010 Catlin Art Prize (Nominee) 2009 Exposure 09 Emerging Artist Award (Winner) Apple Mac Digital Innovation Award (Nominee)