One , Acrylic on Bag (2013) / Essai sur métal #1,


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Extract of an Interview

Your works are extremely simple, essential: How did you come to this reduction of forms. Was it a long process?

When studying in fine Art school I was still into figurative art and slowly shifting to abstract, trying to reduce, express the same but with a minimum of form and shapes. I was already working with patterns so i trained with shapes and colors. The process of reduction is also one I apply to my daily life, I don't like owning much, material possessions tend to make me nervous, it's an important thing for me to keep a balance between the pleasure i get from objects but also to have the capacity to be detached from them.
Some of my early works introduced in Zürich for the solo show Pink Dots Poetry in 2011 are pieces in which I believe the viewer can understand my work as it progresses. In that series i drew people surrounding me, but the shapes and the color pink already took an important place, as well as the writings visible on the side of the drawings. A few months ago I realized that my ongoing project Girl's Notes actually unconsciously developed from the writing in Pink Dots Poetry.
The process of reducing and selecting the colors used in my work is still developing, endless experimentation. The color Pink and its variations are of course really important, I believe in the soft power of that shade. The theory of the color pink is something that i have researched in depth it is used widely in Art therapy. Also i am always looking for shapes, searching for what could be to me the perfection, one you could look at and feel like you are meditating, getting rid of any thought. My desire is to create pieces that while being observed, the viewer would feel content, distant from worries and calm . Of course such works are also asking too much, the viewer needs to be patient and shouldn't try to understand the works in a linear way. Rather this is not an observation but an interaction.



How do you process when painting? Do you have a specific idea in my mind or do you just start without precise purposes and stop when you think it's finished?

For my bigger canvas, I first do small paintings that i love to call "Petites Études", i hang those in the wall in front of me before painting. "petites études" as well as my small collages are researches / inspirations for my larger paintings.
A work can keep its unfinished form and stay in an "under process" state for a long time, for example this canvas I started in late Spring 2012, which i am still working on. That current painting is developing really slowly and i love to photograph the progression. I like to watch it in a certain state and keep it like that for a month or two before working on it again, thus the painting has something organic, like it would grow naturally with time. But of course other paintings or big drawings are quicker to complete and all i want is to express what is inside, and to relate that to the observer, where i can feel content with my work.



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Simran #8, Acrylic on Green Archive Paper, 54 x 74 cm (2013)

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Extract of an Interview for Berlin Art Connect

" I'm working on a series called Simran, which are paintings and oil pastels on A2 / A1 paper. Simran stands for „meditation“ in Punjabi, which is Jatinder’s first language, a language i am slowly learning. Creating those one brush stroke painting puts myself in an inner situation similar to meditations, the pieces are done with a quiet and a clear mind. As soon as the brush meets the paper, my mind frees itself from any weight or thought, it only last for a couple of minutes as those works are executed pretty quickly. One doesn't come wihout the other, those pieces can't be done without a clear mind, yet the clear mind come from within the piece. The process is intuitive and free of reasoning and a decision making process, unlike my canvas on which i think pretty carefully of shapes and mostly colors..."

Simran

Jatinder, ballade quotidienne is a photographic essay by Johanna Tagada. Including a written introduction, the publication released in January 2014 brings together 14 photographs (some exclusive to this publication). Designed and conceptualized by Johanna Tagada, each copy is printed and assembled in her Berlin studio. The first is limited to 20 hand-numbered and signed copies. The second edition includes a glossary and is limited to 50 copies.  Also available at The Tate Modern in London.

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Johanna Tagada