Artwork copyright: Haribaabu Naatesan
Dimensions: 10 feet X 5 feet
Materials: computer boards, electronics and other wasted materials
Junk is not known to trigger creativity, nor acts as driving force for the average artist. There is nothing average about Haribaabu Naatesan and his passion though. He can imagine easily sculptures in metal scraps, he can create art forms from discarded objects, he can draw inspiration from what we call electronic junk. The result is art that can grace a drawing room or garden, not junkyard.
His artwork the Dark Side of the sun presents a clock with only one hand for seconds (not hours or minutes). The artist is trying to remind us that time is running out and we need to find alternative ways to move on. His work is futuristic, intricate and unconventional. Through his art, he constantly tries to tell us to live with empathy, love, spirituality as whereas with respect to each other.
For this project he approximately recycled 250 computer boards 25 kg electronic and other plastic waste materials. The work was executed in 25 days from scratch to the final installation.
Inspired by the music of Pink Floyd, with some of the works featuring titles riffing off the rock band’s songbook, Naatesan’s intricately assembled creations tend to resemble enlarged clockwork mechanisms and can have you deeply engrossed for hours together, navigating their elaborate arrangements.
The struggles for preservation of natural life are also the theme of Haribaabu Naatesan. His work conveys the importance of recycling and upcycling materials in an increasingly consumerist society.
Inspired by the Law of Conservation of Mass, he feels that matter and energy are neither created, nor destroyed, they just change form. Repurposed scrap can outlive the utility of the original objects and question the actions and views of consumers. “His art is a reflection of the transitional nature of life.
Our world is so chaotic and full of materialistic greed. Haribaabu urges us to think about what happens to discarded cell phones and out-of-date electronic items like walkmans and videotapes. So, the question is “What really happens to what we generally call scrap?” “Just because they have outlived their use, do they deserve to be forgotten in attics? Life is an unbroken cycle of creation and destruction, and this applies to human birth and rebirth as welI. His work is a direct comment on what we have caused to nature as humankind. Are we able to create something beautiful and meaningful in our fast-paced lives, or we are simply here, invaders of this place, who destroy everything?
Naatesan is trying to make us reconsider our position on earth. It is now urgent, more than ever, to co-exist harmonically and to respect each other in this planet.
As he aptly mentions: ‘I see life in stillness. And a beginning in every end. Whenever I see scrap materials, I see a soul waiting to come to life. I see science merging into art into design into spirituality. And I create’
If I could describe his creative process in a few sentences, I would definitely say that he is an artist who doesn’t start with sketches. The composition somehow happens in his thoughts. Then, it becomes a spontaneous act which evolves in creating every single of his artworks. Similarly, his artwork ‘The dark side of the sun’ is a conscious effort to get into that unconscious, but creative thought.
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