HARSIMRAN JUNEJA, b.1995

Rothko stated that a painter’s progression in work, as it travels in time, will be towards clarity. Yet, as you work for a long time, you start to discover how little you know. Life, as we experience it, is full of complexities that create dichotomies - good or bad. My work investigates these dichotomies and particularly conflict in contexts that are personal, political, social or cultural. In uncovering, portraying or depicting some of these ideas, I am trying to draw attention towards ‘self in society’ to offer moments of self-reflection, opportunities to build new perceptions, and chances to reconsider simple questions.

Conflicts can be magnetic. They can lead us to experience certain emotions but its ability to pull us into a tar pit can refrain us from understanding the cause. In exploring conflicts, I am curious to understand the consequences of being forced into binary systems of this or that, us or them, right or wrong etc. And my works in the form of painting, drawing or text, often turn into statements and seldom propaganda whilst representing my observations. However, conflicts can be good or bad - and my practice is not restricted to either one. 

My works follow a visual language that is influenced by Neo-expressionism and primitivism, aiming to exist in the spaces between figurative and abstraction or narrative and abstraction. The texts in my works are akin to graffiti on the streets, they tag my paintings and also allow me to re-contextualise my visual subjects. Lately, my ideas have taken precedence over my visual outcomes, leading me to an exploration of conceptual art practice that also employs the use of found objects, combines, video and audio. 

A crucial aspect of being able to resolve conflict is the practice of looping - an exercise that enables better listening in a conversation to understand ones reasons better. In a larger context, I wonder if my works can be synonymous to looping, enabling audiences to inch closer towards resolution for their own conflicts.