ABOUT MY ART
DESIGN:
The most important portion of my work, is creating an original design that expresses something I want to communicate and that I feel will work well in cracked glass. Each sculpture I make is based on an original drawing & design that I created myself.
One of the reasons I give names to each sculpture is because it relates to my initial design and what I am trying to express.
On a technical level I want my work to have a real sense of depth, detail and dimension to it. If there is an abstract quality, I want that element to feel cohesive with the overall design.
Balancing all these ingredients is incredibly hard to achieve with glass, which is why I plan and design all my sculptures beforehand - keeping the dynamics, difficulties and limitations of my medium in mind.
SCULPTING:
Glass is unpredictable, each strike is meticulously planned in terms of placement and pressure. Not every attempt is successful - one wrong hit and I start again from the beginning with a new piece of glass. This means I can go through several pieces of glass to make the final image.
UNIQUE:
Each glass piece is wholly unique and impossible to exactly replicate, like a fingerprint. Even in my trilogy series there is no way to make the glass crack in the same place each time.
These glass sculptures reflect and refract light, creating a glistening image. The same piece can look different from every angle, making the piece unique to not only the owner, but the observer.
BIOgraphy:
Niall Shukla is a self-taught artist & filmmaker living and working in London, United Kingdom. He is one of the pioneers in the cracked glass art movement.
His artwork currently involves creating sculptures out of glass to create the impression of human faces. His work deals with the uniqueness of human identity. Each glass sculpture is completely one of a kind and impossible to replicate, like a fingerprint.
Niall Shukla is also an award-winning writer and director of dramatic films. His latest project A Doll Distorted was BAFTA qualified, selected for over 60 festivals and won over 13 Jury Awards. His work has been picked for Oscar qualifying Sitges festival, BAFTA accredited Aesthetica and London Short Film Festival. Alongside his film direction, he has also won multiple awards for his Visual Effects and Editing work.