Image Credit - India Art Fair
Digital artist Gaurav Ogale has a passion for bygone eras. He taps into the "unexplainable power of
nostalgia" in his video and multimedia works, which frequently take the shape of short narrative films that
are shared on social media and packed with bizarre juxtapositions. He does this to honour his upbringing in
Pune and his life in Mumbai. The movies, which move to the beat of the artist's favourite wistful music, are
like short stories that depict the artist's life's insignificant events through drawings, paper cut-outs,
typography, and images.
Gaurav creates a space for himself wherever he is because he lacks a dedicated studio, whether that be at
home, in a friend's kitchen, or at a residency in rural France or Goa. He claims, "I carry the objects that
allow me to think and create," including "more emotive artefacts that ground me as well as tools like my iPad
Pro on which I take to write and sketch." He displays some of these items for us, including a battered
leather-bound notebook from his schooldays, a ceramic bookmark he acquired while staying in Marrakesh on
a residency, and a little perfume bottle that belonged to his father.
Gaurav began a new series of multimedia videos in partnership with performing artists over the epidemic, for which he is currently most recognised. According to him, "during the pandemic, everyone around me was looking to do something new, and I was chatting to a lot of theatrical artists who were especially looking for methods to create while every venue was closed." Over chats with his soon-to-be co-workers, who included actors Jim Sarbh, Sheena Khalid, and Kalki Koechlin, directors Zoya Akhtar, and writer Manu Pillai, the artist began to come up with vignettes that would provide an insight into his co-workers' more introspective selves.