The Open Studio / Siddharth
Siddharth
Bound across time
Two padlocks, one knot and every rented room in between
Two locks hang on one knot of rope.
Neither one is open.
Behind them, brown rings cross like the mesh of a fence.
At every join sits a small knot. The colour runs down like rust after rain.
The paper is the colour of an old wall.
Which key fits which door after so many rooms?
The work
Siddharth, from New Delhi, paints locks and keys again and again. He has lived between family homes and rented spaces. For him, a key holds memory and the wish for a steady home. In Bound across time, two padlocks hang on knotted cord over a net of rust-brown circles. One is old and round. The other is square with rows of small buttons. He paints in watercolour on a sheet he prepares with chalk powder and glue. The work is 64 × 74 cm.
In the artist’s words
“I have lived between family homes and rented spaces. I have seen how the simple act of carrying a key can hold memories, responsibilities, aspirations and the desire for stability. For me, locks and keys are not merely objects. They are metaphors for access and exclusion, confinement and liberation, fear and possibility.”
- Theme
- Access and belonging
- Material
- Watercolour on a sheet prepared with chalk powder and glue
- Size
- 64 × 74 × 0.4 cm
- Year
- 2026
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- College of art
- From
- New delhi
- Code
- RC-294
