Fashion’s Brush with Art #4: Ranbir Kaleka for Verve

Muse: Kalki Koechlin. Photographs by Jatin Kampani. Art by Ranbir Kaleka. Styling by Nisha Jhangiani. Assisted by Shirin Salwan. Make-up and Hair by Clint Fernandes.

Ranbir Kaleka creates an exclusive work of art for Verve using Kalki Koechlin as a muse. See the dramatic before and after transformation and discover the artist’s thought process

RANBIR KALEKA
“She had an elfin look of a forest sprite….”

ON SEEING KALKI’S IMAGE
“My immediate reaction? I said, ‘Ah! She has an elfin look of a forest sprite in a Dutch Renaissance portrait.’”

THE THOUGHT BEHIND HIS ARTISTIC CREATION
“Pruning, chiselling, carving, cutting, cut-glass crystal came to mind. I fore-grounded topiary which is a form of cosmetic surgery applied to nature’s shapes. The eggs suggest genetic enhancement. The whole image too is constructed of bits and pieces shaped and knocked together digitally to construct a ‘good looking’ image.

THE FUSION OF ART, FASHION AND PHOTOGRAPHY
“Creative disciplines can be melded but doing so is worthwhile only when the exercise is wrought as a meaning-making device.”

Born in Patiala and now based in New Delhi, Ranbir Kaleka studied at the Chandigarh Fine Arts College and then did his masters in London from the Royal College of Art. Currently, his largest project in the making incorporates a video, a painting and a sculpture. It will be a meditation on various aspects and theories of ‘time’.

“Watch the behind-the-scenes shoot of the making of these fabulous canvases here.”

“And read about Kalki’s views on art and cinema in the exploratory cover story here.”