President Of The Knife Club

January 6th - February 1st, 2018
Index Art Center, Newark, NJ

"A selection of carved objects, new and old. In addition to the carvings, Asha Ganpat presents a series of sharpened everyday objects and knife works. Ganpat's work opens a discourse about our species' inclinations to weaponize the world around us. Her process is a reassignment of that violent nature, and frees ourselves by imposing the blame onto these questionably external things. In this endeavor, Ganpat asserts herself as the President of The Knife Club, in the business of fulfilling the market's cutting and slashing and stabbing needs."

The Knife Club was first introduced to me while I was in my home country of Trinidad at the residency Alice Yard. During my too-short stay, a few other artists informed me that I was a member of the knife club. I was overjoyed and asked for more information and how to get a membership card. To my dismay, there was nothing more to be said and the club was not a club at all. It was merely a fond reference for artists who use blades in their work. It stuck with me through the following year. It grew on me. I grew into it. Whether I realized or decided it true, I am the president of the knife club. Maybe I've always been.

As extensions of our bodies, our tools are an extension of our will. What do we will, as a species? Violence. Aggression. Dominance. We endeavor to improve our natural bodies with tools and we do it with sharpened steel and projectiles and explosives. And we make these things beautiful. They are sleek and carefully designed. Our weapons are disappointing portraits of our inner nature. Even the descriptions of our violent objects are often metaphors for beauty and glory and success. It is who we are. It is what we are. So many of us are lost to our aggressive desires.

(The Violence In Our Hearts)

(Sorry, My Dance Card Is Full Tonight)

mail at asha ganpat dot com