Shug Gallery exhibits Prussian Spit by Aryan Arora
From the 9th to the 25th of October, Shug Gallery is showcasing 'Prussian Spit' by Aryan Arora. It is his first time using colour, drifting from his classic black and white pieces.
The exhibition features 11 paintings all created with Prussian blue. It is a new challenge for Arora, stepping into colour for the first time. It shows raw emotion and how tension can exist on a canvas, on show for people to see.
When asked why Prussian, Arora said he was inspired by listening to "the blues music that started with a struggle. It was the agony they were trying to narrative in a very calm tone". He spoke about how jazz was such calm music but the message underneath was about struggle and chaos. It is almost like an oxymoron, two opposing things coming together, and that is what Arora created here.
The paintings feature 'An Artist Without An Audience' which is Arora's favourite and took him 3 days. It can be considered the most vulnerable piece of his collection because of how little layering was done.
The artist explained the process of using oils on canvas, how you must wait for each layer to dry and when do you decide the last layer is the final one? 'An Artist Without An Audience' shows Arora's vulnerability within a studio setting, and he wanted to express this feeling to others.
Prussian blue is the darkest shade of blue and almost considered black, many artists use it instead of black. Delving into colour for the first time, Arora wanted to create something chaotic and meaningful, while also still having the familiarity of the concept black.
Each canvas in the collection has a different number of layering, 'It's Still Me' took the longest to paint because of how deeply contrasted it is. With his collection, Arora wanted to show an audience that "each layer on the canvas holds a memory". He also purposefully didn't add descriptions under his paintings because he wanted people to figure out the meaning for themselves and how everyone has a unique idea.
He said it makes him feel closer to an audience when they describe the emotion behind the painting in a way he might not have thought of.
Opening night of the exhibition was a success, with people fluttering in and out, appreciating 'Prussian Spit' from so many different angles. A personal favourite was 'Soaking in Blue', where he literally was soaking his brush into blue paint to create something entirely foreign to him. The tones of the painting are so intense and really spoke out to me, the Prussian blue evoking vulnerability but also intensity.
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