New Delhi-based artist duo Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra present Arboretum, their first solo exhibition with Carpenters, exploring brass as a conduit for memory, history and knowledge, and highlighting the artists’ unique fusion of craft, design and painting. Opening at the gallery’s London space, the display features paintings executed on brass sculptures as well as canvases, all inspired by the fleeting feeling of being embraced by a tree. Combining hand-made and industrial processes, the works come together to symbolically create an arboretum – a botanical garden for various tree species to coexist.
Thukral and Tagra’s multifaceted practice reflects the scope of their engagement in the cultural and political landscape of India, as well as the wider world. The artists are driven by the methodologies of painting, gaming, archiving and publishing. While their early work dealt with the intricacies of global consumer culture, their recent interest in ecology and climate change led them to explorations of their own family histories of migration and farming in the Indian state of Punjab.