"Normally it is a (corporate) sponsor who ‘adopts’ a (traffic) island from the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), and then approaches me (to execute a sculpture)… This is the first time that the local corporator, Sachin Padwal, F South approached me directly,” scrapture artist Arzan Khambatta told Parsiana about his fifth and latest public sculpture which was funded by the Corporation. The two 16 ft tall shocking pink flamingos in recycled metal unveiled at a traffic island in Sewri in the week of April 11, 2022 are an allusion to the migratory birds that visit the city near the mudflats there. "Hence the connection,” he stated. "Sewri is also known for its fort. I tried to do something in stone work to project the same, but budgets prevented us from exploring further…I was very glad the BMC contacted me in spite of not having a budget…instead of putting fiber glass birds to save cost.”
The sculpture was earlier intended to be 12 ft in height. "We ordered the material accordingly… The sheet sizes I got were so huge, I decided to add four feet to the sculpture… Not realizing that 16 ft would need a fully different support system, I ended up using much more material and more time too. But today when I look at them, it was worth it,” stated the genial artist. Khambatta’s sculptures are generally not colorful. "I keep the color of the metal but here I decided to paint it bright pink so that it stands out in the area that is dusty and dull,” he told The Free Press Journal (FPJ) on April 20.
Scrapturist Arzan Khambatta (inset) and with his new sculpture
Padwal told FPJ, "I have taken this initiative and funded (the sculpture) from the money I was allocated as a corporator…Although (Khambatta’s) fee was high, I requested him to do it at the lowest price because even his workshop is in Sewri.”
Khambatta’s earlier public sculptures include a memorial to INS Vikrant (see "Bringing a legend alive,” Parsiana, February 21, 2016) and depictions of a rhinoceros, dolphins and a bull for various commercial houses.
We queried Khambatta on the Mumbai Commission for Arts, Music and Culture, of which he and architect Ratan Batliboi are members (see "Promoting public art,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, April 21, 2018). "Yes, we’ve managed to prevent some terrible pieces from coming up in the city… We guide and suggest changes to the wards which come to show what they are planning… Unfortunately, some approach us later, after they install the pieces… And some put up the pieces even after we have voted against them… We are in talks with the commissioner to address this issue.” The artist revealed that "some time back a corporator from the Dadar-Wadala area wrote to the BMC to dissolve the Commission as he said the members were "egoistic” and "did not allow most of the proposals to come through.” F. J.