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Sheesh Mahal

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Jewelry based on the sheesh Mahal

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Embodying the optical phenomenon witnessed in the Sheesh Mahal, a lost craft tradition from the South Asian subcontinent, these works are composed of reflective convex glass mosaics in the metallic colors of silver, gold and copper. Their surfaces gather, absorb and scatter that which surrounds and moves around the wearer. The objects are designed to act mutable and flexible, and in some cases, age with time just as our human bodies do.
 
Year: 2021
Dimensions: Various
Media: Convex mirrored glass, on silicone, hand burned leather or metal substrates
 
Untitled {pink to silver collar}. Front view. 24” H x 14”W x 1/2” D (when flat)
 
 
 
 
Untitled {pink to silver collar}. View revealing a magnetic button opening
 
 
 
 
Untitled {pink to silver collar}. Details.
 
 
 
 
Lines and beams pendant. Front view. 9” H x 3” W x 1” D on 24” L chain
 
 
 
 
Lines and beams pendant. Front Detail.
 
 
 
 
Bracelet with Temple border. (TL). Laying flat, (TR). Folded, (B). Wrapped around wrist. 10” H x 4” W x 1/2”D (when flat)
 
 
 
 
Pendant with Temple border. Front view. 12” H x 4” W x 1/2” D on 16” L wire.
 
 
 
 
Suite of bracelet and pendant with temple border
 
 
 
 
Leaves in Haze neckpiece. Angle view. 6” H x 4” W x 1/2” D on 18” L wire
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Mirror paintings II

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These wall-mounted panels embody and amplify the optical phenomenon of the Sheesh Mahal (palace of mirror) outside of its socio-cultural history and decorative motifs. By encasing convex, tinted, reflective glass shards in clear and textured epoxy, these works speak about the invisible, scarred and fractured turbulences of our human condition, hoping to inspire the viewer to reconsider self-image and action in space.
 
Year: 2021 onwards
Media: Blown mirrored glass, silicone, clear textured epoxy, stainless steel, wood
 

tamra . 2024. Front view.
Dimensions: 48” Lx 24” W x 2” D

Evanescent #3 . 2023. Front view.
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 2” D

Blue mirror paintings 1 & 2 (diptych) . 2021 . Front view
Dimensions: 72” L x 36” W x 2” D each

Blue mirror paintings 1 & 2 (diptych) . 2021 . Rear view
Dimensions: 72” L x 36” W x 2” D each

Sunset body . 2022. Front view.
Dimensions: 48” Lx 24” W x 2” D

Sunset body . 2022. Detail.
Dimensions: 48” Lx 24” W x 2” D

Evanescent #2 . 2023. Front view.
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 2” D

Evanescent #2 . 2023. Detail.
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 2” D

Aurora #10 . 2023. Front view.
Dimensions: 24” L x24” W x 2” D

aham . 2023. Front view.
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 2” D

chith . 2023 . Front view.
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 2” D

Atman . 2023. Front view.
Dimensions: 48” Lx 24” W x 2” D

Aurora #1 – #9 . 2021. Front view (one work from series)
Dimensions: 12” L x 12” W x 2” D

untitled {temple border} . 2024. Front view
Dimensions: 48” L x 24” W x 1.5” D

evanescent #4 . 2024. Front view
Dimensions: 24” L x 24” W x 1.5” D

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Saans : eyes of the skin

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In homage to the Sheesh Mahals (palaces of mirrors) of South Asia, this wall of shattered glass mirror acknowledges the presence of its viewers, by moving subtly with its own inhaling and exhaling breath. Because they are made of blown glass, each shard is slightly curved, creating thousands of convex mirrors that miniaturize the viewer’s reflection.The viewer almost disappears when standing still in front of the piece, while the curved mirrors amplify every small movement to create a cascading wave. Over time, the silicone skin will age, just like the original buildings did, and small pieces of mirror will fall away. The 35th Rakow Commission at Corning Museum of Glass.
 
Year: 2020-2022
Dimensions: 6 ft x 4 ft x 1 ft
Media: Blown, mirrored, and cracked glass: silicone, steel; Arduino sensors; electronics; wood
 
Front view featuring a reflective glass skin that breathes in the presence of a viewer, while miniaturizing and multiplying their self-image into a million repetitions across its surface. Photo Credit : Brad Patoka
 
 
 
 

Watch the subtle breathing behavior of Saans, in normal and fast speeds. Credit : Brad Patoka
 
 
 
 
Front view featuring mirrored glass as an elastic skin. Back view featuring woodburnt patterns that articulate the skeletal structure living inside the artwork’s body. Photo Credit : Brad Patoka
 
 
 
 
A peek inside the artwork shows its skeleton, organs and nerves. Photo Credit : Brad Patoka
 
 
 
 

Video documentary about the making of this artwork. Published by Corning Museum of Glass, 2022
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Ladle {small}

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A small frying ladle is encrusted with reflective concave glass tetrahedrons.
 
Year: 2013
Dimensions: 18″‘W x 8″Wx 5″ D.
Media: mirrorized concave glass, found object of stainless steel.
 
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pool

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Reflective glass tetrahedrons occupy the ceiling and are illuminated by suspended oil lamps. The reflection of the flame is multiplied and amplified by the convex and concave glass surfaces of the tetrahedrons. On the floor, two three-legged stainless steel stools, equipped with a telescopic (extendable) legs, move around, their top surface comprising flexible reflective glass lenses. These lenses reduce and multiply the ceiling into each lens, thereby creating a pool that the viewer can touch and affect.
 
 
Year: 2013
Dimensions: 20′ L × 12’W x 12′ H.
Media: mirrorized convex and concave glass, stainless steel, silicone, oil lamps.
 
Installation site showing stools and ceiling.
 
 
 
 
(R). Ceiling seen from below, (L). Detail showing oil lamp containers
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Of clouds and Of clouds

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Photographs of a Chennai vessel store are incised into using two different principles – one that defines the order of a clock, and the other than portrays the nebulosity of clouds – in order to create small sculptural entities within the printed image.
 
Year: 2013
Dimensions: 36” L x 48 : H x 3” D
Media: Digital print-objects in wood frame
 
Front views. (L). Of Clocks, (R). Of Clouds.
 
 
 
 
Detail views. (L). Of Clocks, (R). Of Clouds.
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Florets and server

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Stainless Steel vessels are encrusted with convex and concave reflective glass tetrahedron, that manipulate the optical phenomenon of the Sheesh Mahal (palace of mirrors) in the round.
 
Year: 2012 – 13
Dimensions: 12” – 24” diameter
Media: mirrorized blown glass on stainless steel
 
Florets, small and large .2012. Front view
 
 
 
 
Server. 2013 . Side view
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Corner of recursion

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Inspired by the Sheesh Mahal (palace of mirrors), reflective glass spheres are arranged into a freestanding walk-into architectural space whose optical quality responds to the presence and movement of the inhabitant.
 
Year: 2012
Dimensions: 6’ diameter x 9’ H
Media: Mirrored blown glass, still, participant
 
View from an angle
 
 
 
 
Detail of a sphere, the object’s modular unit.
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Mirror paintings I

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These wall-mounted panels embody and amplify the optical phenomenon of the Sheesh Mahal (palace of mirror) outside of its socio-cultural history and decorative motifs. Hoping to inspire the viewer to reconsider self-image and action in space, the works are flexible and erode with time.
 
Year: 2020-08
 
4 quarters to a whole . 2009
Dimensions: 18′ LK x 18” W x 1.5” D each
Media: Blown mirrored glass and silicone on canvas
 
 
 
 
 
Reversible landscapes #1 and #2 . 2019. Front views.
Dimensions: 24” L x 12”W x 0.5” D
Media: Blown mirrored glass, silicone
 
 
 
 
 

Reversible landscapes #2 . 2019. Front view and Detail.
Dimensions: 24” L x 12”W x 0.5” D
Media: Blown mirrored glass, silicone

 
 
 
 

#2. 2008. (TL). During day time, (BL).At dusk, (R). In the presence of one lamp at night, in darkness.
Dimensions: 40″ L x 30” W x 1.5” D
Media: Blown mirrored glass and silicone on canvas

 
 
 
 

Untitled textile . 2019. (L). Detail, (R). Front view.
Media: Blown mirrored glass, silicone

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A-Line in Glass

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Year: 2007 onwards
Dimensions: Dress sz 4
Media: Mirrorized blown glass, silcone, artist, accessories
 
 

Pink- Peach Glass Dress, 2010

A reflective, flexible glass dress interacts with people in New York, while absorbing into its mirrored surface the city that surrounds it.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Blue dress, 2017

Others have worn the dresses as the build of the dress offers elastic flexibility for the wearer’s body type.
 
 
 
 
 

Excerpt from a video journal that chronicled a day in the life of the glass dress, 2007

Interactions in public space test the invisible boundary set up by the viewer’s curiosity to fixate on me or temptation to feel the dress, and perceived inappropriateness of staring at me, calling out to me or touching my body.

 

 

Pink- Peach Glass Dress, 2010

A reflective, flexible glass dress interacts with people in New York, while absorbing into its mirrored surface the city that surrounds it. 2010.

 

 

Pink- Peach Glass Dress, 2010

Interactions in public space test the invisible boundary set up by the viewer’s curiosity to fixate on me or temptation to feel the dress, and perceived inappropriateness of staring at me or touching my body.

 

 

Blue dress, 2017

The dress is styled by the person wearing it.

 

 

Pink- Peach Glass Dress, 2010

A reflective, flexible glass dress interacts with people in New York, while absorbing into its mirrored surface the city that surrounds it. At night time.

 

 

Blue dress, 2017

Blue glass dress during a seminar lecture at MassArt in 2019

 

 

Pink- Peach Glass Dress, 2010

The dress is flexible and comfortable to sit in. As I bend or flex the dress, the shards break further into smaller convex mirrors, shed like dead skin cells, turning to dust over time. This is a self-eroding object.

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