The Open Studio / Esha Paul
Esha Paul
Mind your own nose
Every balloon is smiling. Look again at the one near the bottom
Clear skins, each holding a small sun of yellow or a cooler blue.
The faces grin through the plastic like faces pressed to a window.
White stars catch on every curve, as if someone has just switched them on.
Below, the sticks cross and tangle in the dark.
One yellow face slips, its smile doubled, turning down.
The black around them waits, patient, warm with rust at the edges.
The work
In this painting, almost two metres tall, Esha Paul shows a bunch of light-up balloons. Each clear balloon holds a smiling face in yellow, orange or blue. One face near the bottom seems less sure. Paul grew up among mass-made plastic goods. Here she makes a child's toy large enough to unsettle. She paints in acrylic by choice. It is a plastic-based paint, so the material joins the story. The bright colours pull the eye in. Paul links them to the "fake happiness" of social media.
In the artist’s words
“Colour acts as a sensory trap. The vivid pinks, electric blues and neon yellows mirror the 'fake happiness' of social media and consumer culture. They offer a seduction that, upon closer inspection, gives way to unease. My use of acrylic paint is a conceptual choice. As a plastic-based medium, it lets the material join the narrative of artificiality.”
- Theme
- Manufactured happiness
- Material
- Acrylic on canvas
- Size
- 183 × 122 cm
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- 1
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad
- From
- Alipurduar
- Code
- RC-407
