The Open Studio / Siddharth
Siddharth
Archive of constraints
Every rung holds a lock but there is no key in sight
A ladder of rough branches leans on a wall the colour of dry clay.
Small locks hang from its rungs like fruit that will not fall.
Two at the top. A crowd at the bottom, grey and rust and one dark red.
The shadow slips down and to the right, darker than the wood.
It carries the locks with it, every one still shut.
Nowhere on the wall is there a key.
The work
In Archive of constraints, Siddharth paints a ladder made of rough wooden poles. It stands against a dusty pink wall. Padlocks hang from each rung. Two hang at the top and many crowd the bottom. A dark shadow of the ladder and its locks falls across the wall. Siddharth has lived between family homes and rented spaces. Keys and locks return again and again in these paintings. The work is in acrylic on canvas. Its earthy colours come from nature and everyday life.
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 exclusion
- Material
- Acrylic on canvas
- Size
- 50 × 76 × 2.58 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- College of art
- From
- New delhi
- Code
- RC-297
