Rachana Dave – Ahmedabad based Sculpture Artist Par Excellence

Brass statue of Sri Chhotalal Dalpatram Trivedi sculpted by renowned Sculpture artist Rachana Dave unveiled at Khedbrahma

 Rachana and Abhishek Dave’s firm ‘Finesse Art’ has carved a name of itself in the field of abstract and realistic work in sculpture art

BILKULONLINE
By Rafat Quadri

Ahmedabad, Nov 23: It was a gathering of Trivedi clan at Khedbrahma, a small Taluka of Sabarkantha district in Gujarat recently when Madhubhai Trivedi, Jaya Ben, Keur Bhai and Jigneshbhai unveiled the brass statue of Chhotalal Dalpatram Trivedi.

Most of the family members who live abroad or away from Khedbrahma want to make the place alive where late Chotalalji’s towering personality is admired and respected till today since past century when he lived and left a lasting impression of his persona as an educationist and philanthropist of Devinagar station area of Khedbrahma Nagar. School, hospital and other activities that still continue in his name under a trust now houses Chotalalji’s statue which has beautifully been sculpted by Rachana Dave, the renowned sculpture artist of Ahmedabad.

Rachana and Abhishek Dave:

Happily married and blessed with a smart teenager son Aryan Rachana a Sculpture artist of repute is totally busy in her work.

It all started when she found less interest in formal studies and her late Mom chose to introduce her to Sheth CN College of Fine Arts in Ahmedabad.

Here, Rachana got the wings to fly – fly with the imagination, observe with accuracy and details and carve with expertise. After finishing her studies in fine arts in 2003 Rachana started her journey of working as a sculpture artist. Since, she has made atleast ten realistic portraits and lifestyle statues and over 5000 mural art under abstract art category.

Rachana befitting her name (meaning ‘to create’) has sculpted Vikram Sarabhai (statue at museum at ISRO) who was the Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped to develop nuclear power in India. She sculpted Keshubhai Patel the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, Heeraba, Manibhai and others which add the prestige and legacy of the heritage city of Ahmedabad and other places of Gujarat. Currently, Rachana is working on a bronze statue of Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which will be placed at Dholka by an NGO.

Rachana has exhibited her work at different galleries of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and other parts of the country including Jehangir Art Gallery. She has won many awards and is still counting the accolades which are coming her way which has still several miles to go.

Speaking about the brass statue of Chhotalal Trivedi, Rachana says “It is 5 feet 7 inches statue of brass weighing a gross 400 kg, I have tried to incorporate all possible details of his stature and physical being. I was given a couple of very old photographs of last century’s Chotalalji whose 86 year old son wanted to see his statute inspire his family’s young generations and entire people of India and specially the people of Khedbrahma. So I visited the place, spoke to the family members and tried to know and depict his picture for my vision to sketch. It was a three months period in which we made the statue finally which was unveiled recently.”

Abhishek Dave is the husband of Rachana who left his banking job and joined his wife and together they formed a firm ‘Finesse Art’. He takes care of the processes involved in statue making. “There are some 14 processes involved in the making of the statue after Rachana completes the sketching. It is shaped in clay then fiber and then metal and finally the patina process is applied on it which is done to protect the ageing process and deterioration on the statue” explains Abhishek.

‘Finesse Art’ has its work station at Rakhiyal, where metallic treatment on statues are carried out alongwith other processes. They have a small team of ten members. It is basically a manually handled systems that create the carvings in metal. But, everything is under the guidance and expertise of Rachana who is giving finishing to each statue at different stages.

“Sculpture is like archaeology: You dig in and you find something” Rachana believes in growing and making her art more and more appealing, relevant and useful.

(Rafat Quadri can be contacted at editorbilkul@gmal.com)