Laying a Cable 1983

Nalini Malani painted 'Laying a Cable’ with watercolor on paper; she paints a moment of people working together to move something heavy. I can imagine Malani in her studio, mixing her watercolors to achieve these earthy tones, building up translucent layers, and letting the figures emerge, shifting slightly as she goes. The line is so fluid, almost cartoonish, but not quite, it has this handmade, tender, kind of quality, like you can feel the artist’s hand holding the brush and moving it around. I wonder what she was thinking about as she made this? Perhaps she wanted to show a picture of how infrastructure is constructed, or maybe she wanted to show the beauty of working together. I’m thinking about how this piece relates to her wider practice and body of work as well as the work of other painters who take inspiration from each other. In art, it’s all about being in an ongoing conversation and exchanging ideas. Malani’s work reminds us that painting is a process, and that the act of making art allows for multiple interpretations over time.