The Open Studio / Hardik
Hardik
Toys and Desire VI
Everyone at the pool wears a cat face except one boy
Grey ink settles like evening on the tiles.
A black ball hangs in the air and never lands.
Cat faces watch with small white eyes.
One boy smiles with his whole bare face.
At the edge two dark shapes lie on the floor like shed skins.
The paper around it all stays clean and quiet.
The work
In Toys and Desire VI a boy stands in a large round tub. His face is the only one we see. Every other figure wears a black cat mask. Hardik, of the College of Art in New Delhi, makes the image as an etching with aquatint. The print measures 30 × 45 cm. Its top edge rises and falls like a line of hills. For Hardik printmaking is slow. It asks for patience and many decisions. Its layers help show how complex desire is.
In the artist’s words
“I am interested in how desire exists beneath the surface of everyday life, often shaped by memories and emotions that are difficult to confront or communicate. Some of my works engage directly with the body. Others rely on symbols, gestures and ambiguous imagery to suggest what remains unspoken. I want the tension to emerge naturally.”
- Theme
- Hidden desire and vulnerability
- Material
- Etching and aquatint on paper
- Size
- 30 × 45 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Edition
- 5
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- College of art, New Delhi
- From
- New Delhi
- Code
- RC-288
