Behind the cinematic image are invisible processes of divination – bodies and
apparatus that converge to form contraptions for production. Several practices and
objects associated with cinema are often identified using terminology only
understood by those in the the filmmaking fraternity. This invisibility is both violence
and possibility to those it envelopes. In Different Danny and Other Stories, Amshu
Chukki foregrounds these skills, devices and conditions to conjure an atmosphere
that complicates labour and its relationship to the architecture of cinema.
Here, props, stands, temporary sets and stretchable bodies enmesh with desire,
demand and danger to come to terms with the inevitability of adjustment and
change. It either mimics or it challenges the natural – conditions such as
temperature, season and light are either resisted or required, for example. Through
film, installations and paintings, Chukki delves into cinematic time through and with
these ‘background’ protagonists. Nonlinear, ductile and sometimes suspended: time
is unraveled against its very source – the spectacular city.
~ Mario D'Souza
click here link to full text by Mario D'Souza
'Different Danny', Single Channel Video, Duration 15:39
'Shooting Mane', Two Channel Video, Duration 15:50
Oil on board mounted with rotating
mechanism
10 1/2 x 16 x 2 1/4 in each
Aluminium wire sculpture, stunt rope
71 x 61 in
Stunt jacket, stunt rope and
aluminium sculptures
78 x 88 x 67 in
Stunt jacket, stunt rope and
aluminium sculptures
76 x 80 x 59 in
Aluminium Sculpture
65 x 46 x 26 in
36 x 47 x 32 in
Aluminium sculpture, stunt rope
32 x 14 x 4 in
2022
mixed media, drawing on paper
9 5/8 x 20 1/2 in
An online conversation between Rohan Shivkumar - architect, urban designer and filmmaker - and artist Amshu Chukki, as they discuss the latter's recent show at C&L, Different Danny and Other Stories. The session will also delve into Amshu's wider practice, which often incorporates the dystopic through the imagery of sites and artefacts that explore our uneasy relationship with nature.