Every artist has a story to tell and the art becomes the mode of narration. Gurgaon-based artist/muralist Gopal Namjoshi tells his story through the beautiful art pieces made of discarded iron scrap. His work got widely recognised after an exhibition of iron installations at the India Habitat Centre in 2015.
Gopal Namjoshi with one of his installations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
Born in Jaipur in 1961, Gopal Namjoshi studied art for five years at the Rajasthan School of Arts, Jaipur. He has exhibited his work in nine solo shows, more than 18 group exhibitions, and has designed and executed over 60 murals all over the country.
Namjoshi makes beautiful installations from discarded iron scrap / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
His skills have turned a lot of lifeless iron junk into beautiful installations that have the form of trees, insects, animals, birds and humans. Namjoshi recreated new and more alive stories for the discarded objects and allow them to co-exist and converse ecologically.
One of Namjoshi’s work / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
Iron sketch by Gopal Namjoshi (right) / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
Creating life-size installations, assembled in a scene to depict liveliness is one of the specialties of Namjoshi’s work. At the India Habitat Centre, he created a park-like scene complete with a man relaxing on a chair and surrounded by these “living” creatures. The creations are titled “Coexistence: You/Me/Them/Us, Ecological Conversations.”
A park-theme scene with Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
The artist says that the idea came to him while he was returning to the city from a rural area. He realised during this journey that the charm of rural life is lacking in “uber urbane” lives.
According to the artist, his installations, built from iron and steel, are brawny and tough on the outside but soft on the inside. They reflect life in its various forms while retaining their true nature of innocence and lively expressions. Their original beauty can be seen reflecting out of the metallic lifeless forms as they bear the true spirit of the artist.
Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
One of Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
Undoubtedly, art is the true love of an artist. However, environmentally conscious Namjoshi picked this medium of art to help save the environment from the greenhouse gas emissions from the solid waste in the landfills.
For him, his art is a message about the environment. He does not burn any objects while making these installations but welds them together.
Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
With people getting more and more aware of the rapidly changing climate, the artists believe that their works of art influence the culture of reuse and recycle to save the environment. In New Delhi, municipal authorities are converting metal junkyards into art parks showcasing eco-arts made from scrap.
One of Namjoshi’s creations / Image: Facebook @Gopal Namjoshi
The Eastern mentality of ‘minimal wastage’ has always fascinated and inspired Namjoshi. He says that Indians conserve everything, making them different than the rest of the world. However, Westernisation has ruled out the value of minimal wastage. Through his installations, Namjoshi tries to foster that mentality and keep it embodied within the art itself.
By giving his installations a living touch, Namjoshi makes them more appealing and connected to the human psyche. Without sermonising, his eco-art delivers a message of less wastage to help save the planet from the impending doom that mankind has pushed it towards.