Vandana Kothari, Mural Painting Workshop and more

PROFILE

The Language of Fragmented Truths -  Vandana Kothari

From time immemorial, humankind’s quest has been to perceive different planes of co-existence all at once. Amply demonstrated in the ancient cave art to space shuttles sent to find new life forms on distant planets, this urge is not merely a quest for knowing, but of experiencing parallel universes simultaneously.  Vandana Kothari through her art, pushes the borders of the known, and explores the unknown with similar zest and diligence, observes Sushma Sabnis.

(Artist Vandana Kothari)

Vandana Kothari is a multi medium artist. Having acquired her Master of Fine Arts degree from, Santiniketan, she has worked in a variety of mediums to quench her creative thirst. From acrylic and oil painting to large scale collage works, to photography, sculptures and installation works, Vandana moves with ease creating visuals and art works which are devoid of boundaries of conditioning. Her creative language metamorphoses from one dialect to the other effortlessly and speaks of precise experiences and acute observation.

Every once in a while one may come across such an unquenchable hunger for creating art. The urgency of expression and the skill controlled enough to not let the expression over power or over flow into a large mist of vagueness. Vandana’s work displays a kind of subtle harness over a subject being explored and the outcome is a soulful work of art which is meaningful to the viewer.

(The painting Cut-A-Part)

In her paintings, made usually in series formats, she uses oils, acrylics with enamel paints on canvas to aptly depict the dichotomy and confusion in today’s times experienced by everyone, with respect to social, traditional and political classifications. Her work titled, ‘Cut-A-Part’ displays multiple canvases painted with enamels and oils, where each small sized canvas is placed to form an unsolved jigsaw puzzle like formation. Upon closer observations, one can see bits and pieces of a female form, fragmented and broken placed randomly. What the artist brings to the viewer’s attention may not be actual mutilation of a female body, but how a troubled oppressed individual might actually be seen in her distorted mental and psychological state. 

(The work - Journey of a Broken Chair)

In another painting, ‘Journey of a broken chair’, she presents a long vertical canvas, which acts as a scroll portraying the journey of a human relationship. The imagery is fine and explicit with details traversing time frames and the progress and digress of a human association, as a witness the artist keeps a broken chair, and one would be led to believe that the chair is the narrator of that highly evocative and emotionally binding visual fable.

Vandana’s fairly recent foray into collage work brings out the obvious global influences the artist has imbibed into her art practices over the years. Collaging offers the added advantage of texture, form, colour and freedom of portrayal unlike other traditional mediums. Vandana revels in this knowledge and her collage works are not just a celebration of the mastery over a medium by years of practice and intelligent usage but also a means to address the issues, her sponge like mind chooses to absorb and bring to the viewer’s attention these fragments and tiny mosaics of truths.

( The work - The Art of looking Sideways)

At one glance playful, at once painful or serious, these collage works bring out the facets of the artist’s persona and her thought processes. In one of her earlier collages from 2010, titled, ‘The Art of looking sideways’, a man sits in front of an easel, in profile and on the easel is placed a picture / painting of a female face looking at the viewer. The entire work seems to be made with a twisted sense of reality in mind and the artist seems to be bringing out the bigger irony of looking at things in life as a larger perspective but sideways. When confronted with the inability to see things straight, look sideways, is what she seems to be saying. The work also looks at the artist, in the studio space and with the work of art and their interactions within the space. The colours in this collage are muted with some portions hand painted and textured. 

(The work -  City of Turmoil)

(The work -  Trumpet Blowers)

In her very recent collage works, however one sees the artist move towards vibrant colours and more defined forms and intricate detailing. The pen lines of definition strike in many portions of the collage, such as the works, titled,’ City of Turmoil’, ‘Trumpet Blowers’, and ‘Life After Liberation’. There is a distinct sense of a language being perfected and spoken in eloquence in these works. City of Turmoil refers to the ideologies of perfect homes and castle like abodes being flattened out by floods, earthquakes and other such nature’s calamities and the picture perfect imagery being shattered to smithereens in the minds and hearts of the viewer. The work addresses human greed and a false sense of control over their lives. 

(The work -  Life After Liberation)

‘Trumpet Blowers’ is a statement about human vanity, and fall from grace, while ‘ Life After Liberation’ with the rejoicing forms in the collage engaged in merriment proves the freedom one could feel when the baggages of the past and egotistic conditionings have been lifted or demolished. One can see the influences of Matisse in the paper cut out works of the artist but in a language and concept completely her own.

(The sculpture - Kalpa-Vruksha)

Vandana’s sculpts with naturally occurring materials like wood, and natural bamboo shoots. Her sculpture ‘ Kalpa-Vruksha’ is installed at the Shilpi Hill Resort, Saputara, Gujarat. Made from natural bamboo, the artist has tried to emulate the ancient wish-fulfilling tree with large out-grown roots. Placed on a raised platform, this organic sculpture transports the viewer into imaginary parallel universes.

With an art practice which is accurate and flexible enough to speak in any medium of expression, Vandana’s art work forms a distinct and specific vocal visual language with a potential of evolving into further interesting dialects. One could expect a great deal of thoughtful and meaningful works from the artist in the future.

Vandana Kothari lives and works in Vadodara, Gujarat.



NEWS

Healing effects of Art

(A painting by Ritu Jain)

The Sunnya Kalashram, New Delhi presents a solo show of art works and a holistic experience of an art expression by artist Ritu Jain. The show is titled, ‘Manifest... Unmanifest’ for its complete oneness of approach to an artistic experience.

The whole exhibition has on display, paintings, which have a meditative quality in them, rendered in charcoals pencil on paper and acrylics on canvas, saplings and plants with seeds, hand works, meditative music and many such enchanting elements which engage the viewer and mesmerize them.

The show intends to deliver a sense of warmth and have a healing influence with the elements on display, and the art too by capturing the silence and its rhythms which sink deep into the viewer.

The show is on view till the 29th of June 2013

Mural Painting Workshop

(Mural Art Workshop)

Gayathri Art Galore, Chennai, calls out for participants for a unique workshop on making murals. Murals are any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall ceiling or other larger permanent surfaces. This kind of painting incorporates the architectural elements into the mural and homogenizes the visual with elegance.

Earlier religious institutions used to be resplendent with mural art depicting scenes of prophets and seers and religious leaders as a reminder of the lives of the saints and their virtues. Nowadays, the art form is being revived into residences and office spaces with a renewed vigour to preserve this dying art form.

This unique workshop aims to bridge the gap by demystifying the art of mural painting in a systematic way. The workshop is the only one of its kind which delivers a professional 3D Mural art result.

The mural workshop costs Rs. 1000/- for the materials required and guarantees a professional output form the participants. The workshop is on till the 26th June 2013, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm For further details please call: +91 9445183477

A triad of abstraction

(A painting by Krishna Pulkundwar)

Mahua Art Gallery, Bangalore presents a group show of art works by three established artists from around the country. The show exclusively displays works made in the genre of semi abstracts and abstracts. 

In an attempt to express their inner most thoughts and experiences the three participating established artists bring to the viewer an array of abstract art works.

The participating artists are, JMS Mani, Tapas Ghosal and Krishna Pulkundwar. Pouring in their canvases the creativity of abstractions, the three artists blend and weave an intense tapestry of the formless and the formed abstraction.

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

The Summer Show

( A painting on display)

Kohlart Gallery, New Delhi presents a  show for all art lovers around town. The show is a group exhibit of young and upcoming artists with their eclectic mix of artworks on display.
The show is titled ‘Summer’ and aptly captures the young energetic tone of the show.

The works of the artists touch on subjects which speak of their eagerness to go for instincts, human, animal and other living species of the living moving world and nature. The works are mostly figurative in style and some have semi abstracts on display.
Charcoal, oil, acrylic on canvas can be seen as the medium of rendering.

The participating artists are, Prittam Priyalochan, Akash gaur, Tanaji Shet, Prashant Nageshkar and Karma Tenrab.

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


(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)