Bio:
A husband-and-wife artist duo who started their trademark style in 2010 as an experiment in the beginning of their joint carrier. Back then they lived in Denver Colorado, but shortly after moved to Mumbai India in 2014. During that time, they took the chance to explore the world at large, gaining a diverse well of inspiration to draw upon creatively, traveling all throughout Asia and Europe. Since that time, they have crated numerous “papercut backlit” pieces displayed in numerous exhibits, along with 2 self-published books including stunning settings of their own creation, and 4 murals.
Art Style / How do They do it:
Hari and Deepti specialize in a unique form of paper-craft they call “papercut”, accented using a light source as a backdrop. Papercut, in this case, involves the meticulous cutting of sturdy paper sheets to create the layers of an image, which are then organized accordingly with special attention placed on spacing. It all starts with an initial rough sketch which depicts the scene they want to create. Here the landscape, characters, or animals of the piece are detailed, and it is within these sketches do we see the artists favor for intricate plants and settings. Then comes the most difficult part, the actual paper cutting, as hours are spent meticulously cutting each part of the piece by hand. Once they have the individual sheets cut out, they are ordered according to the scene, again with special attention placed on their relative depth. This is done to control the amount of light that permeates through each section of the entire landscape, thus allowing the artists to play with shadows in an almost layered way. Finally, a backdrop light is installed, and the whole finished assembly is placed within a custom frame to preserve it. Both artists have gone on record stating that their artistic process is heavily based on the traditional forms or art know as Chinese paper cutting and Balinese shadow puppetry, however as of recent, they have done some interesting experimentation. By including a vast number of new materials and colored paints, they have been able to not only elevate their more traditional pieces, but also capture their unique style in other forms of media such as 2D images.
Message/Meaning:
Often, Hari & Deepti create pieces that are clearly designed to invoke a desire for exploration of the natural and spiritual world with their fantastical and almost mystical settings. The backdrop light accentuates this, beckoning the viewer to look deeper within a scene, to explore and satiate their wanderlust, while the forced perspective created by the “layered” look of the piece makes these places seem much bigger than they are. Along the same vein, the environments are often the main subject of these pieces, as most human characters present have little to no detail, are very small relative to the whole setting, and are just observing their surroundings. This not only makes the viewer feel small relative to the world around them, but with the intricacy of these pieces, shows the true majesty of nature and the world we often take for granted.
Another prominent motif is the religious undertones which are blatantly present within their story books and some of their newer pieces. These artworks often allude to the idea that the wonderful places depicted only exist because of “God”, the artist behind them. In the books specifically, this is mentioned through text, however in other pieces it’s not so obvious and I personally had to refer to some of the context the artists gave. Finally, in their older collection pieces, both artists often enjoyed stringing together complex stories within a set of static images. Most of these depict the common story beats found within the “Hero’s Journey” trope: the rise to occasion, the fall from grace, and the eventual quest success, however they are not exclusive to this story type.
Favorite Artwork:
Sources:
https://www.harideepti.com/about-2
https://www.instagram.com/harianddeepti/
https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2023/10/behind-the-brush-hari-deepti/
https://blackbookgallery.com/artists/hari-deepti/
https://research.library.kutztown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=designpioneers#:~:text=Together%2C%20Hari%20Panicker%20and%20Deepti,cut%20paper%20in%20shadow%20boxes.