Issue 47 Hisham Akira Bharoocha The cover image for this issue of Artkrush is a detail of The Hunters, a collage by Hisham Akira Bharoocha. A perfect example of the artist-musician, Bharoocha creates organic drawings, collages, and wall paintings that parallel the music of his loud, experimental solo band, Soft Circle. Included in the three-part show SETS at D'Amelio Terras through December 23, Bharoocha accompanies his visual art with a live Soft Circle performance at the gallery on December 16. Bharoocha has participated in group shows at Feigen Contemporary, John Connelly Presents, Deitch Projects, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Soon his work will travel abroad to De Vleeshal in the Netherlands and to the Watarium Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Born in Japan but raised around the world, Bharoocha studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and soon became involved in Providence, Rhode Island's inspired music scene. At RISD, he joined Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale as a member of Lightning Bolt. The trio's free-spirited amalgam of Japanese noise rock, cheeky lyrics, and jazz influences (from greats like Sun Ra) hinted at what would be Bharoocha's developed sound. Bharoocha left the group in 1996 and soon after joined Brooklyn-based Black Dice. After discovering the NYC music scene, he broke off from Black Dice and became the enigmatic Soft Circle. Under this moniker, he creates sound art that rivals the intensity of his visual practice. Of his various mediums, Bharoocha told the webzine petiteMort, "My art is very related to my music. It's very pattern based with a kind of psychedelic look, like my sound." He claims nature, eastern religion, and his own emotional outbursts as inspirations. In his visual works, these muses surface in the saturated colors of his abstract, geometric collages; on stage, they sing. (LM) Hisham Akira Bharoocha The Hunters, 2006 Cut-paper collage and ink on paper 13 3/4 x 18 in./ 34.9 x 45.7 cm Courtesy of the artist and D'Amelio Terras, New York All Rights Reserved