Magzoid - Leading Art Magazine: January, 2021

Guest of Honour
Arzan Khambatta
Arzan Khambatta is an architect
by profession and a
sculptor by choice.
Encouraged by his parents, he started
sculpting after giving his 10th
standard exams in 1982. He would
scout the streets, garages, construction
sites for scrap metal, collect
the same and weld them into
pieces of art he fondly christened
“SCRAPTURES”. A word that has
become synonymous with Arzan.
His latest project includes blog
publications that are centered on
sharing stories, thoughts and art
that are related to our most innate
human connections such as love,
pain and compassion in an effort to
empower others. He is one among
the highly looked for and sought
after artist. His artworks have an
uncommon sense of innate portrait
of thoughts depicted visually.
What started off purely as a hobby,
slowly began to yield income when
his first buyer, architect Dara Mistry
bought his first piece in 1983
for Rs:2000. He got his first public
response in 1993 when he opened
SCRAPTURES to the public at the
Jehangir Art gallery in sept 1993.
The message of a piece is always
one of utter importance. For him this
holds a special place in his heart. For
every piece to have its own message
and story which helps in connecting
with people. Each painting
represents a specific person and
where they come from. The beauty
of the painting lies in the seeing
greatness in every person.
Commissioned works started
pouring in, the first one being the
MOGHUL outside the jewel of india
at the Nehru centre commissioned
by Architect Noshir Talati in 1989.
Now Khambatta’s works are found
in corporate houses, hotels, and private
collections around the world
and range from six inches to sixty
feet in height, The most prominent
ones being the dolphins at worli and
the INS Vikrant monument at
Currently 13 solo shows and over
150 group shows around
the globe, Arzan has
embarked on a venture
that is close to his
heart, namely Curating
shows for a few
NGOs.
His first fundraiser for
The Jai Vakeel School
in 2019, involved
100 sculptures made
by him, which went out to
85 artists, who painted
their renditions on the
sculptures. This was
a complete
100%
sellout and the school benefitted
from it largely.
He has also made a film titled “DECI-
BEL” a whacky view on noise pollution
inBombay. This movie has had
successful screenings at the Kala
Ghoda festivals.
Also to his credit, he has just finished
one of the largest ever suspended
sculptures measuring 25
feet diameter and weighing 3.5
tons, suspended by 5oo stainless
steel cables.
Besides sculpting and
film making, Arzan
dabbles in a number
of activities namely
photography, designing
props and sets for
experimental plays,
designing and making
trophies, he is an avid
Iyenger yoga practitioner,
loves travelling abroad,
and extensively by road
in India, he loves
f o o d ,