Human figures from Rock Garden
— Chand, Nek
The faces of Nek Chand’s first sculptures were crude and stylized, with protruding eyes and mouths, in contrast with the serenity of the facial expressions of his later works.
Over many years Nek Chand collected broken crockery from the new city hotels, electrical fittings from factories, broken bangles from village markets and fairs, discarded cycle parts, including forks, seats and handlebars, which were to become the armatures for his sculptures.
For his work supplies of water and cement became of paramount importance. He collected liquid waste cement from a pipe factory about eight miles away using a large canister attached to his bicycle, and he also scavenged discarded cement bags on construction sites. From a municipal tank about a mile away he collected water in discarded empty oil drums and rolled them back to his hideaway. From: John Maizels; Vernacular Visionaries.