Wandering Clouds
Copper with patina, wax finish, and silver paint. Pedestal in white marble.
96 x 54 x 54 inch Approx. 1000 kg
Wandering Clouds arises from Satish Gupta’s lifelong fascination with clouds. From early childhood, clouds have offered him a quiet lesson in impermanence: their ability to wander freely, to hold shape only momentarily, and to dissolve without trace. This reflection deepened during a flight over Bhutan, where surrounded by vast, drifting clouds, the artist experienced a moment of identification - not as observer, but as participant - feeling his own sense of self merge with their wandering nature.
The sculpture takes shape through mass and surface rather than lightness. Weighing nearly 1000 kilograms, the work holds a striking tension between physical weight and conceptual release. Copper, finished with patina and wax, creates a surface that appears softened, weathered, and in flux. The wax finish lends a muted luminosity, allowing the form to feel held in suspension. Material here resists solidity even as it asserts presence, embodying the contradiction of clouds rendered through enduring matter.
At its core, Wandering Clouds reflects a desire, a hope - to melt into nothingness; form releases its insistence. The cloud does not carry memory of its shape; it simply becomes again. Gupta locates himself within this cycle, recognising the self as transient, porous, and ultimately inseparable from the vastness it moves through. The sculpture holds this moment of becoming-without-fixing. Wandering Clouds offers a meditation on release - where the self, like the cloud, is allowed to wander, dissolve, and return without fear.
