Hands-On Art: A Tactile Journey Through the MAP Collection

Chandigarh-based artist Gurjeet Singh (b.1994) makes weird and wonderful soft sculptures inspired by conversations with friends and strangers, in real life and online. The culmination of a process of sketching and working with his materials are three dimensional works made of a myriad of richly colored and textured fabrics that come together to form witty, other-worldly and sometimes melancholic creatures.
Singh’s first creative inspiration came from watching his elder sisters embroidering and sewing in the house. He also remembers being lost in the Sikh miniatures published in newspapers brought home by his father, wall murals and folk traditions of clay doll-making in Punjab. He would often assist his father with his work of scooter repairs, which gave him a deep understanding of machines and how they work.

He works across mediums including sculpture, painting, drawing, sound and performances. He often roams around the local markets and collects imperfect and discarded fabrics, buttons and found materials. He also reuses the scrap fabrics and embroidered borders that are leftover from his sister’s stitching business, and gives them a new life as a work of art. Singh is drawn to defected and discarded textiles that other’s no longer see use in, but that’s precisely what he prefers working with, giving it a new language and form completely. A recurring theme in his work is identity and how losses and love shape them, with a particular interest in LGBTQ+ stories.