Ramkinkar Baij, Rupak Munje, MATI and more

NEWS



Kettle Art Against Child Labour

(Kettle Art by Tahir Siddiqui)

India International Center, New Delhi presents a group show by eminent artists, titled, ‘Arte Kettle Garden’. The show displays sculptures and paintings by some of the senior artists of the country.  Another rarely used medium of depiction is the humble tea kettle, which has been metamorphosed into works of art by these artists.

The show displays 50 artworks, and the kettles have been painted on, mixed media works have also been exhibited along side these kettles. Tahir Siddiqui, Pooja Bahri among others are the participating artists, and the show is organized by the Kala Care Group. The director of Kala Care group Shweta Zharotia explained that the whole show is an attempt to address the issues of child labour in our country, and ow little children who have either run away from villages or forcefully brought to the city to work as cheap labour, also have a right to education. Shweta, also has displayed her works which aim to stir the conscience of the viewer towards helping such children to be educated and learn to lead a happy self respecting life.

The exhibition is on display at India International Center, Annexe's Art Gallery, New Delhi till the 6th of June 2013.

MATI Certificate Course on Art

(MATI - Summer Certificate Course)

MATI ( Management of Art Treasures Of India) New Delhi, announces its 16 days summer Certificate course on Art, History and Appreciation. 

The course design aims to initiate students, young professionals and art lovers to understand the history and influences of art and design. It also aims to train the students to interpret, recognize and analyze art to engage with Contemporary art and the market systems.

The modules are so designed as to help deciphering the historical significance of art, and art markets especially related to south Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). It also will focus on the art and its relation to society, and the aesthetic and other value of it. It would help the students to look at art and attempt to read it contextually.

The course is to begin on 8th of June and go on till 4th of August 2013.

To register please visit the MATI website http://matiindia.org/?p=217

Contemporary Collection - II Enchants

(Painting by Akkitham Narayanan)

Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi, presents a group show of works of masters of yesteryears and some contemporaries of today, titled, ‘Contemporary Collection II’. The artists need hardly any introduction as they have been the pillars of the Indian art scene for a while now.

The participating artists are, Akbar Padamsee, Akkitham Narayanan, Apurva Desai, Binoy Varghese, Jayasri Burman, Kishor Shinde, Maite Delteil, Manu Parekh, Neeraj Goswami, Paresh Maity, S. Harsha Vardhana, Sakti Burman, Suraj Kumar Kashi and the Singh Twins.

Most of the works on display are rendered in a variety of mediums, such as oil,  acrylic, pastels on canvas, water colour on paper, bronze sculptures, fine art giclee print editions.

The show is on view till the 30th of June 2013.


Art on World Autism Day

( Rupak Munje with his works)

Dakshinachitra Art gallery, Chennai, presents a solo show of work by artist Rupak Munje on the occasion of World Autism Day. Artist Rupak was born autistic and art for him has been a means of expressing himself. Rupak received training in art under the able guidance of American therapist Melissa Enderie, at the We Can Centre, and he has come a long way since his first show.

In this second solo show he displays 63 of his paintings, and his experiences on canvas. Bold, vibrant and rich in colour and confident in his visual language, he with the help and mentoring of his father Rajendra Munje, present a picture of determination and positive approach to the tribulations life puts one through. 

The show is on view from today, 5th of June to the 16th of June 2013.


( News Reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Baij bust of Allauddin off display for 20 years

( Ramkinkar Baij )

A bust of Ustad Allauddin Khan sculpted by the legendary Ramkinkar Baij disappeared from display at the seat of institutional culture in the country’s capital over 20 years ago without anyone being any the wiser.

Not even the Sangeet Natak Akademi, where the sculpture was installed in 1952 after being brought from Santiniketan where it was made on the instruction of Rabindranath Tagore. An Akademi official in the documentation department said: “It went missing just after the retirement of Akademi secretary Keshav Kothari in 1990. None of us knew why the bust was moved or where it was kept as the shifting happened secretly. We do not even know where it is located now,” he said, pointing at a pile of luggage trolleys and suitcases in a corner of the audio-visual library where the bust was once placed on a four-foot podium.

For nearly a quarter century later when the Akademi was asked, they were reluctant to divulge its whereabouts but said it was in its possession.The Akademi officer in charge of the museum of musical instruments, Jayant Raj Choudhary, said he did not know why the sculpture had gone off display.

“We were not at the helm of affairs when it was moved.” Asked if the bust of the sarod maestro could now be put back where it was earlier, he said there was no space.“It is one of the most valuable possessions of the Akademi. But we do not even have a proper round-the-clock surveillance system, such as a closed-circuit television camera, which can help us keep an eye on displayed objects. I do not think we can take the risk of putting it in public view.”

(The bust of Ustad Allaudin Khan)

Former Visva-Bharati professor and author of My Days with Ramkinkar Baij, Somendranath Bandyopadhyay, said it was a shame that the country’s most prestigious state-run performing arts body did not have the infrastructure to display the sculpture.Baij had sculpted the bust when the Ustad went to Santiniketan to teach music at the Sangeet Bhavana as a guest professor at Tagore’s invitation in 1935. Tagore, who also conferred the title of acharya on the Ustad, had asked the painter Nandalal Bose to get a bust of Allauddin done by Baij.

Obviously, the bust was the property of Visva-Bharati but Tagore’s biographer Krishna Kripalani, who had also married his granddaughter Nandita, took it to Delhi with his friend Baij’s permission so that it could be made the jewel in the Akademi’s crown.“What is the Akademi doing with it if it cannot make it available to the public for viewing? If it cannot do justice to the history associated with the artwork, it should at least consider giving it away to the Lalit Kala Akademi or the Kala Bhavana at Visva-Bharati,” Bandyopadhyay said.

Art historian and Kala Bhavana professor Raman Siva Kumar said Visva-Bharati would display the sculpture if it were returned. “The sculpture is very important in the history of Visva-Bharati as two grand figures — Ustad Allauddin Khan and Ramkinkar Baij — were associated with it. Moreover, Tagore and Nandalal Bose had a role behind its creation. It will be one of our most prized possessions if we get it back,” he said.

(Reported by Tathagata Ray Chowdhury, Courtesy The Telegraph)