Gagan vij
Born in 1971, Bareilly U.P A self taught sculptor, Gagan Vij’s engagement with sculpting started early. He casted his first bronze at the age of 13 While still a student, his college commissioned him to do a life size sculpture, which is installed in the college library. After pursuing his studies, he worked in other fields in order to sustain his artistic pursuit, a difficult and rigorous proposition owing to the nature of the work and the high costs involved in the making of bronze sculptures. However, this experience added to his artistic acumen, like his stint in the garment industry as a fashion designer enriched his understanding of the human body. In 2003, he gave up all other commitments and became a full time sculptor. Irrespective of the difficulties attendant therein, Gagan chose to only work in bronze, reflecting his classical bent of mind as a sculptor. His vision of sculpture is much grounded in classical ideals of Indian sculpture and he is totally unfazed by contemporary trends in Indian sculpture and dedicated to furthering and honing his classical vocabulary of sculpture. Gagan has grown and evolved, learning by himself and has developed his own methods to create art. He captures figures in moments of contemplation, working on textures, curves and balance, and creating delight with angular flowing movements that allow different views as one takes a full circle to view his work. His works are conceptual and theme oriented and he creates equilibrium between the material, method and subject by making them immensely inter-dependent. He has to his credit the task of having developed / invented a library of exclusive patina shades, which add another dimension to his works. Gagan lives in a suburb of New Delhi and has a sprawling studio equipped with everything required to create a work - right from clay modeling, casting, and welding to the finishing stage, all under one roof.