Too Much Color
2019
Archival pigment print on canvas of computer drawings at 300ppi
18x18 in, 36x36 in, 72x72 in (45x45 cm, 91x91 cm, 182x182 cm)
I have been leading a nomadic life. Over the past decade I have lived in Mumbai, Paris and Hong Kong before arriving at my final port of call in Boston in 2017. Lots of amazing things have happened since my arrival in Boston, including the birth of our daughter Maya. Applying for a green card moved the current debate on immigration from an intellectual exercise to one in which I suddenly held a stake. I find the anti-immigrant agenda of current policymakers to be deeply unsettling. At the same time, I also think about why would I necessarily get a permanent residency just because I applied for it. After all the United States is not obliged to fulfil my request. There are millions across the globe who also want to come here, some with far greater need than mine. What are the rules or preferences, if any, on who should be admitted and what kind of responses do these decisions generate both within and beyond the borders of the United States? In Too Much Color I engage with the immigration system from diverse vantage points, where I examine the conflict between globalism, immigration and nativism.
I am interested in new technologies and their engagement with traditional art practices. I made Too Much Color using a stylus on digital canvas of backlit LED screens and a large format inkjet printer installed in my studio. I used a digital pastel brush to create linear graphic marks as well as painterly effects. Too Much Color dissolves the boundary between drawing, painting and printmaking. I have drawn upon a wide range of sources such as popular illustration, caricature, daily stream of news and entertainment media, vernacular and folk art.