Surrey Art Gallery displays vinyl mural inspired by Indian folk art
The installation combines colourful shapes against a backdrop of black-and-white patterning
Sandeep Johal's vinyl mural outside the Surrey Arts Centre's classrooms will be up until 2027. (Nyamat Singh)
Sandeep Johal is a Vancouver-based visual artist, who was commissioned to create a vinyl mural for the education department at the Surrey Art Gallery.
The mural, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see,” based on a quote by American poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau, is on display till June 18, 2027.
Johal says the name conveys the idea of paying attention to what you see and focusing on the process of creating art. The quote fits perfectly and is very artistic since artists don’t focus on something specific when observing art but rather what they find while looking at it, she adds.
“I think sometimes, when people are creating art, they are so concerned with the outcome, that they’re not actually seeing what’s important in the process,” Johal says.
On display outside the Surrey Arts Centre classroom, a space used by many children, Johal wanted the mural to be colourful and bold, depicted through a variety of animals.
“I wanted to create something that was really engaging for kids,” she says.
For the installation, Johal created imagery on Procreate, a graphics editor app used for digital painting. The digital imagery was then printed onto vinyl which can be attached to different surfaces.
“[Vinyl is] a great way to have public art without the investment of physically altering a surface,” she says.
Johal has been painting murals since 2017 after starting her professional practice the year prior. In 2018, she met Suvi Bains, the Surrey Art Gallery’s assistant curator, at a panel called “Adjacentlands: Conversation On Contemporary Art And Book Launch.”
“It was really great to have a younger South Asian woman work with me … because she had a lot of insights. I think just understanding the cultural context that I was coming from was really important for the show,” Johal says.
After growing up without a connection to South Asian culture, Johal wanted to make sure people knew her work was inspired by Indian folk art.
“As an adult, I felt a lot of shame around that. So, I wanted to reconnect with my heritage through the aesthetics,” Johal says. “But I think as I progress, my work will become more nuanced and more subtle.”
She combined her signature black-and-white patterning with a myriad of colourful and vibrant shapes for the installation. Johal wanted the imagery to pop against the neutral tones of the gallery’s exterior.
“I think it elicits some level of joy, especially right now when it’s rainy, snowy, and dark, hopefully [the installation] can give people a bit of respite in their day.”
When looking for ideas for an upcoming piece of art, Johal says she tries sorting through works by different artists, folk art, or recreating an image in her own style.
She loves line drawing, a style characterized by the varying thickness of lines and is usually done in black-and-white. Johal likes juxtaposing the black-and-white with colour to create contrast and visual interest in her imagery.
She describes her style of art as ‘Indo-folk feminine,’ coined by her cousin.
Johal hopes her installation inspires joy in people and urges them to take a breath, relax, and not take things too seriously.
“I just wanted to create something that was fun, engaging, and really colorful.”
