Remembering Cartoonist Shankar on his 111th birthday, Art for young collectors-II, and more..

FEATURE


Nation Remembers Cartoonist Shankar on his 111^th Birthday

Today India celebrates Cartoonist Shankar’s 111^th birthday. Various programs have been organized by cartoon lovers, especially in Kerala, his birthplace. Government of Kerala has decided to open a dedicated museum at Kayamkulam, Shankar’s birth place. TAD remembers Cartoonist Shankar. 

(Cartoonist Kesava Shankara Pillai)

Kesava Shankara Pillai (1902-December 26, 1989), better known as Shankar, was a famous Indian cartoonist. He is considered as the father of political cartooning in India. He founded Shankar's Weekly, India's Punch for a long time. But the children of his times, be it in India or elsewhere in the world, see him as their uncle who did much to make them laugh and enjoy life. Shankar was born in 1902 at Kayamkulam, Kerala. He attended schools in Kayamkulam and Mavelikkara. 

The sleeping posture of one of his teachers was his first cartoon. He drew it in his classroom. This made the headmaster angry. But then he was encouraged by his uncle who saw in him great potential as a cartoonist. Shankar took keen interest in dramas, scouting, literary activities etc. He amazingly did good campaign for the collection of funds towards flood relief. This concern for the poor and the distressed people continued all through his life and reflected in his cartoons. He left for Bombay (now Mumbai) for higher studies after his degree but quit his law studies midway. Shankar's cartoons were published in the Free Press Journal and Bombay Chronicle.

 Pothen Joseph, the editor of The Hindustan Times brought him to Delhi as a staff cartoonist. Thus he and his family settled in Delhi finally. Shankar's cartoons attracted even Viceroys like Lord Willington and Lord Linlithgow. During this time, Shankar had a chance of training in London for about 14 months. He spent the period in various Art schools, utilising the opportunity to study the advanced techniques in cartooning. He also visited Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Geneva and Paris. When he returned to India, the country was in the thick of freedom struggle. The dawn of independence also favoured Shankar's dreams for a separate periodical. The idea came true when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru released Shankar's Weekly, edited by Shankar himself.

Shankar loved kids and organized annual painting and drawing competitions for them, which became very popular. It later began drawing children from all over the world. Annual awards from Shankar's Weekly were presented by prime ministers. He also founded the Children's Book Trust in Nehru House on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi. Later the International Dolls Museum too came to be located here. Thus Nehru House became a 'must visit' item for kids going to New Delhi. It has now a children's library and reading room. Shankar's wife is called Thankam. He had two sons and three daughters. The Government of India released two postal stamps in 1991, depicting two of his cartoons.

(source www.in.com)

NEWS

Strokes of Soulful Thoughts

( A painting on display at the show)

Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata presents a two person show, displaying the works of Amitava Dhar and Sunil De. The duo is counted amongst the league of celebrated art veterans in the contemporary Indian art scenario. Their exhibition titled ‘Strokes of Soulful Thoughts‘ displays works which delve into the visual language of abstracts.

The works can be marked as a confluence of discourses that speak of both the eternal and the peripheral. Also their works blend socio-cultural ethos and the interactions between the individual self and the outside world. Though abstraction seems to be predominantly the forte of both the artists, the fortitude of their works is governed by the intense emoting synergy of time, beauty, agony, demise, love, loss, spirituality, angst, pain and pathos – all bound together to shape the lessons of life and living from the time eternal to the time real as it flows on and passes by. 

The show is on view from the 5th August to the 31st of August 2013.

Art For Young Collectors - II

( A painting on display by Anindita Chakraborty)

Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Mumbai presents their second in the series exhibition, exclusively organised to encourage and inform young art collectors about collecting art. The show refers to the collectors as young, more as a nascent quality, and full of potential.

There are eleven artists in this show Abul Hisham, Amol Patil, Anand Kumar, Anindita chakraborty, Arundhati Saikia, P S Jalaja, Poorvesh Patel, Reshma Nair, Rupali Patil Shalaka  Patil and Viramgami Sanket. These artists are young in age but their works defy the fact clearly. They choose their individual art language, carefully developed in their respective studies, and impart to their works an authenticity which can be seen and verified.

The show previews on the 8th of August 2013 at 6:30 to 9:30 pm and will be on view till 21st of September 2013.

Lines of Light

( A painting by Sangeeta Gupta)

Azad Bhavan gallery of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, (ICCR), New Delhi presents a   solo titled, ‘ Lines of Light’ show of art works by eminent artist, poet and film maker Sangeeta Gupta.

The talented Delhi based artist, besides being a master at the art of painting, is also a fine poetess and film maker. She has received a lot of appreciation and awards for her artistic works including 69th annual award for drawing (1998) and 77th annual award for painting (2005) by All India Fine Arts & Craft Society, New Delhi. 

Her latest show includes abstract paintings that present a continuing artistic sojourn with a mood of reflections and ruminations. With intense colours and a range of textural effects to depict various ongoings of her mind, the collection is a must-see.

The show  inauguration will be presided over by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Former President of India and Bharat Ratna, followed by a short Hindustani classical music recital by Meeta Pandit, at 6 30 pm on 5th August 2013.

The show previews on 2nd August 2013 and will be on view till the 7th August 2013.

Revisiting Fantastical Realms 

(A work by Mahmud Husain Lasker)

The Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, presents a solo show of artist Mahmud Husain Lasker. The show is hosted by the Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata. On display are the works by the artist made this year.

The works are primarily figurative and narrative in styles, depicting various stories which may have caught the attention of the artist. Addressing social issues with the unique figuration, and rendered in vibrant flat tones, the works have a beauty of their own.

The artist tries to correlate the fantastical world of stories and aligns it to today’s reality in a tapestry of colours, forms and figures. Mythology blends with reality creating a visual estuary so potent the characters float in and out of a dream like state.

The show is on view from the 14th of August 2013 to the 20th of August 2013.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

Youth transforming society at KNMA, Vidyarthi Vishesh at Pradarshak and more..

NEWS


Youth transforming society at KNMA

(The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art)

The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and United Nations Information Centre has planned to celebrate the  International Youth Day on the 10th of August 2013 in a special way this year. Supported by rediff.com, the KNMA has organized a discussion, followed by an Art competition exclusively for students from colleges and has made an open call to the students for participation if interested.

With the theme of the event ''Engaging Youth in Transforming Society", the students would require to register first. Each group will then be given paper kites to spread their message to the public.

The honoured guests presiding over the event are, Dr. Dinesh Singh - Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, Mr. Rajiv Chandran - National Information Officer, United Nations, Dr. Pawan Sudhir - Head-Art & Aesthetics, NCERT, Mr. Mandar Narvekar - Head Marketing, rediff.com, Ms. Roobina Karode - Director & Chief Curator, KNMA.

The prizes to be won are: 
1st Prize: Rs. 25,000/-
2nd Prize: Rs.15,000/-
3rd Prize: Rs. 10,000/-

All the participants will be awarded the certificate of participation. For registration and more information, please write to jijo.jose@hcl.com. All participants are requested to bring their ID cards.

The venue for this event is the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, 145, DLF, South Court Mall, Saket, between 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm on the 10th August, 2013.

Celluloid wonders on view at college

(The College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram)

The College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram has collaborated with the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and the Federation of Film Societies of India ( FFSI) to host the screening of contemporary films by some of the celluloid greats like Kurosawa, Bergman, Tarkovsky and others. The college is renowned for its mentoring of some of the acclaimed artists in the country today and this week long event is just one more step in that direction.

The Chalachitra Academy has benefitted by this collaborative venture by getting a permanent space for screening films and the involvement of Fine Arts College in the art/film scenario makes it an ideal destination to conduct the screenings.On show also are the films screened in the competition category at various editions of International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).

The screenings will be held after class hours so that the students can become part of the festival without disrupting their studies. The screenings will be arranged in the 100-seat air-conditioned hall in the college. And the entry is free and admission will be on a first-come-first-served basis.

The screenings which started on the 26th of July 2013 will take place on every Friday evening.

The ‘Salmagundi’ Show

( A mixed media work by Sahaya Sharma)

Wonderwall art space, New Delhi presents a solo show of art works by artist, Sahaya Sharma. The artist has her art degree from the Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore.

The show titled, ‘Salmagundi’ displays an exclusive art collection, made over the past few years by the artist.

Sahaya has also studied sculpture at Triveni Kala Sangam.  A free - spirited artist whose works are based on themes and concepts where variation and disparity are witnessed in their fullest forms. With a firm belief that color and texture gives life to the work, making this a vibrant and colourful collection. the works displayed are replete with textural and relief work. Ranging from figuratives to abstracts and water colour to oils / acrylics, the artist exhibits a vast range.

The exhibition is on view till 1st August, 2013.

Vidyarthi Vishesh -  Figuratives

(A work on display by Shweta Poinkar)

As part of its third phase of the annual event ‘Vidyarthi Vishesh’, (Student Special Exhibition) the Pradarshak Art Gallery, Mumbai presents their featured figurative paintings by the students from all over Maharashtra.

The show displays selected paintings in a semi-abstract genre, and the mediums range from wateroclour on paper to pen on paper and acrylic on canvas. The works on show display tonal nuances and a variety of techniques explored by the students. The show is held to unveil fresh new talent from all over the state into the art world. With a  variety of topics and subjects the students explore, about society and their personal issues, the show has over the years come to be seen as one to watch for.The show features students from 13 participating colleges in Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur, Lature, etc.

Participating student artists are Umesh Bhoi, Prakash Date, Asif Shaikh, Kunal Salvi, Bherulal Sutar, Komal Suryavanshi, Lalit Gawli, Aditya Puthur, Rupali Dube, Jivan Parate, Shweta Poinkar among others.

The show having commenced on 29th July, will be on view till the 10th of August 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Saluting the sailor

Sonu Mulchandani pays tribute to the sailors and explorers from the 14th to 18th century in her exhibition of maps and scale models of ships

(A work on display at the show)

It was like stepping back into a portal and looking at the world through the eyes of the explorers, who, once they got over their fear of falling off the edge of the world, wandered the seven seas and mapped the world as they saw it.

And Sonu Mulchandani, in her exhibition “The Voyage”, pays tribute to them through their works, by recreating or reproducing these maps over copper, marble, steel, wood, stone — even canvas — and which retain their old-world charm.

She works with world maps made between the 14 and 18 century — maps of Asia, India and Europe; even specific regions in Europe, like Naples (Southern Italy), the province of Peking, or the Mediterranean Islands.

Each of these maps is accompanied by a short note on the map.

She displays pictorial maps or map plans in works like the “The Garden of Pleasure 1685” where she recreates the architectural map plans of the Anguien Park built in Belgium in pictures, on marble tablets. The title page maps of European nations also display cultural icons through native figures of people and divine figures (like angels).

Sonu has also built wooden scale models of ships, like the “Kanrin Maru”, an 1857 warship; the “Norske Love”, a 1765 Danish warship, or the “Royal Louis” of the French royal navy, and surprisingly, the famous “Black Pearl” of the Pirates of the Carribean series fame.

“I was reading this books called The Map: Finding the Magic and Meaning in the Story of Your Life by Colete Baron-Reid, which is more philosophical or spiritual, but it gave me a foresight into maps. Then somebody showed me some old maps, which gave me the inspiration to look closely at these maps and depict them through my artwork,” says Sonu.

“I find that so much evolved from the experiences and cartographic records of explorers, who mapped the world without the help of satellites. So the exhibition is a tribute to these sailors and explorers. But I hope this is just the beginning of a journey for us to look at maps.”

Sometimes she adds a touch of tangible history to these maps by placing guns or swords over the representation.

She also contrasts these old maps with her interpretation of the Indian map, using well-known icons, in people, places and architecture to represent 18 different states in the country.

“These icons, whether it’s the saint Thirvualluvar in Tamil Nadu, the scientist M. Visveswaraya in Karnataka or architectural marvels like the Khajuraho temple, represent Indian heritage and culture; most maps don’t depict this.”

The exhibition will be on view until August 10 at Sublime Galleria, 24, 8 floor, UB City, Vittal Mallya Road.

For details, contact 9900238847.

( Report by Harshini Vakkalanka for The Hindu)

EDITORIAL - Art Selling and the Never-Say-Die Hypocrisy, A Ramachandran Retrospective and more..

EDITORIAL

The Ultimate Struggle of Art Selling and the Never-Say-Die Hypocrisy

Art in the time of market recession is a phenomenon to watch. I have been grounded for the last two weeks thanks to an untimely affliction of chickenpox. However, all these days I have been keeping a watch on various art activities happening all over our country through respective postings done by people related to such programs and exhibitions. I see necessity and desperation making strange bed fellows. There in Bangalore, I see 1 Shanti Road, a residency program initiated by art critic, Suresh Jayaram, after its successful franchising of Khoj International Residency program now holding hands with Take on Art Magazine to start a new residency. Also I see, Mumbai’s Mohile Parikh Centre for Visual Arts tying up with a local gallery in Lado Sarai, New Delhi as a part of its mentor program. What intrigues me is the choice of exhibition and seminar spaces. While the MPCVA features its exhibition at Art Motif, a gallery not reputed for its intellectual posturing, it carefully chooses Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts (KNMA), New Delhi for its seminar. Though one could think about strategic collaborations and support in deciding the venues, I am surprised by the never-say-die hypocrisy of art institutions. If a seminar could be conducted at KNMA, why should not the show also be featured in the same venue or if the show could be put up at Art Motif, why shouldn’t the seminar be conducted there? Our art organisers should think about it. They should learn a lot from the boom and recession years. Hypocrisy does not pay.

( An image of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art )

There was a time when Indian galleries did not see eye to eye with each other. But then there came a time when collaborations became an imperative for survival. These days nobody shies away from flaunting their affiliations and collaborations with those establishments which had once fought each other like cats and dogs. It is not applicable to galleries alone. Curators and small time organisers also get a chance to work with erstwhile biggies in the name of curatorial projects as the tripartite relationship between galleries, curators and artists has either degenerated to convenience or elevated into philosophical acceptance. For example, I was surprised to see Rekha Rodwittiya who has never worked with any new curators or especially the ones with bad reputation, now publicly endorsing certain curatorial projects and even publishing blogs to substantiate her arguments. It is always good that hopeless curators get such fabulous chances to work with so called great artists. But my question is where had this symbiosis gone when there was a flourishing market for art and most of these independent curators were literally struggling for an existence? As a keen observer of our art scene, I just cannot swallow this pill of affection freely distributed in the art scene these days.

The other day I was seeing a few photographs of an art opening in Mumbai. The photographs are filled with people who need to be introduced to a person like me. They all look like those people who are very rich and have a filthy amount of time at their disposal and also have pretty much wasted three fourths of their life time. They must be very important people and for them a person like me must be absolutely non-existent and negligible. But it all depends from which hemisphere we are looking at the scenario. What I am trying to say is that these people were just props during the boom years as artists had taken the centre stage in those days in such openings. Today, I try my level best to trace the presence of some artists; and I could hardly count ten of them. The artist must be happy for the full attendance of famously wrinkled rich people addicted to all kinds of suctions to keep their youthfulness. But for any art lover who genuinely cares for the art scene, it is the most depressing scene. Andy Warhol in 1970s used to move around with fashionable people whom he really did not know. They just joined him in art dos. So he famously said everybody had fifteen minutes of fame. Forty five years after this famous statement is made, if we still believe in that and try to live up to it, we must be living in a retro film set.

Many galleries and art promoters now blatantly do art business. They do not veneer their words with intellectual plaster anymore and I love it. I wish more and more art people do business with absolute truthfulness. If they sell a work of art which has investment potential let them say so. If they are selling decorative pieces let them say so. Let nobody fool anybody anymore.

JohnyML

NEWS

A Ramachandran - Retrospective

(A work by A Ramachandran)

Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, hosts an exhibition of eminent artist, A Ramachandran’s selected works done from a period of 1964 to 2013. The show is being held at the Durbar Hall Art Centre, Lalithakala Academy, Kochi.

A Ramachandran is a renowned painter, sculptor, graphic artist, designer and art educationist from Kerala, and is one of India’s most distinguished and prolific artists. He is known for his exploration and experimentation with visual language and use of diverse mediums and bending of various traditional Asian styles in his exquisite, unique works. His work usually draws inspiration from mythical stories and have a deep and rich illustrative quality. His art is both contemporary and modern in essence.

The show, on the lines of a retrospective, will preview on the 11th of August 2013 at 5: 00 pm. The show continues to be on view till the 25th August 2013.

Spiritual Realm Show

( A work by Ramesh Thorat)

The Ark art gallery, Pune, presents a solo show of art works by eminent artist Ramesh Thorat. the show titled,’ Spiritual Realm’ is a collection of recent works by the artist in oil and mixed media on canvas mediums. 

The renowned Pune based artist has displayed his works in several galleries in India and abroad and is known for his deep rooted affinity for portraying rural and village life on canvas over the years.

However in this show, Spiritual Realm, he showcases his latest works of Tantra on canvas. The paintings has ancient symbols of tantric significance as well as images with vibrant colors and bold strokes. 

The show is on view till the 30th of September 2013

Shadows of my mind

( A Work by Goutam Sarkar)

The Tejas Art Gallery, Kolkata, presents a solo show of artist, Goutam Sarkar. With fluid lines and soft moving imagery, the solo show titled, ‘ Shadows of my mind’, is a collection of the artist’s recent works.

Goutam Sarkar is a scholarship holder in water colour painting and has worked as an designer, visualiser, and project designer at various museums in the country. 

He is most appreciated for his vibrant strokes that lend vigour to his canvasses. The core of his paintings is mostly women folk and cityscapes. The works in this collection are a reference to the way the artist portrays the women in his life, as a symbol of endurance, fertility, stability and gentleness.

The show is on view till  the 30th of July 2013

The Cityscapes show

( A work by Pramod Kumar)

Galleria art space, Mumbai, presents a group show of art works by upcoming artists in a 

show titled, ‘Cityscapes’.The exhibition showcases the works of well-known artists Fawad Tamkant, Yashwant Shirwadkar, Pramod Kumar and Parag Adhikari.

Fawad Tamkant has a Masters in Fine arts and straddles the traditional and contemporary art with equal ease. He has held over 20 shows and many group exhibitions in India and overseas. Yashwant Shirwadkar is also a popular artist whose works are mostly based on Indian landscapes of Benares, Rajasthan, Kashmir, Kulu Manali, Goa and Kerala. He has been painting for more than three decades. 

Artist Pramod Kumar hails from Bihar and holds a Diploma in Painting from the College of Arts, Patna and a Master’s degree in fine Arts from Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Parag Adhikari belongs to the fresh breed of artists. His paintings depict spectacular landscapes and seascapes created on handmade paper with a splash of vibrant watercolors. The artist from Kolkata relies on logics drawn from dreams, memory and a sense of need for self.

The show is on view till the 2nd of August 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)
( All images sourced from Google for illustrative purposes only)

Barbed Floss, Everyday Idols, Pop-art on pots and more..

NEWS

The Barbed Floss Show

The Guild art gallery, Mumbai, presents a group show by artists’ works from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The show titled ‘Barbed Floss’ is curated by eminent curator Veeranganakumari Solanki. 

The participating artists Tayeba Begum Lipi, Mahbubur Rahman, Promotesh Das Pulak,  Molla Sagar and Anisuzzaman Sohel present their new works and explorations in the show. 

The show concentrates on the personal and political narratives and urges the viewer to engage with issues like borders, exchange, displacement and relationships with reference to geo-politics concerning neighbouring countries.

The show previews on the 31st of July 2013 and will be on view till the 24th of August 2013.

Step Up show

(A work by Akbar Padamsee)

Jamaart Art Gallery, Mumbai presents a group show of art works by eminent contemporary artists of the country today and from yesteryears. The show impresses with an array works by artists who have received critical acclaim in the country and abroad for their exquisite works.

The participating artists are Akbar Padamesee, Jehangir Sabvala, Bal Chabda, GR Santosh, KG Subramaniam, Prabhakar Kolte, Rini Dhumal, Samir Mondal, AV Ilango, Sachin Jaltare, Bharti Prajapati, Fawad Tamkant, Ramesh Gorjala, Shankar Kendal, Krishna Pulkundwar, Pandurang Tathe, Sunil Padwal and others. 

The art works are rendered in different mediums and styles and are a reflection of beauty and imagination.

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

Everyday Idols

(A work on display at the show)

Country Collection Gallery, New Delhi, presents a show titled, ‘ Everyday Idols’. The show is a solo of the artist, Sanjay Thapar.

The exhibition is about celebrating every day people, strangers one would come across.
It is all about people who have met the artist and he interacted and spoke to them during his trips and travels to various parts of the country. He tends to bring all this back to his canvas.

These are the people who have made a difference in his life one way or the other or have left an impression on him in his every day thinking. Faces, expressions and facial characters tend to fascinate and intrigue the artist, and he tries to tell a story through it all.

The works are rendered in oils and acrylic on canvas. The show is on view till the 11th of August 2013.

Impressionistic expressions

La Galerie D’Expression, Chennai presents a solo show of art works by artist, E Rabindranath. 

The show displays an array of very intricately and exquisitely rendered impressionistic style art works. The artist has taken inspiration from the style and created paintings with topics more akin more to the Indian scenario.The strokes are short and thick, and dabs of paint, vibrant and colourful dominate the heavy relief work and textures created. The paintings depict movements, compositions, hard emotions, shadow and light work and freshness in their unique and distinctive style. 

The show is on view till the 31st of July 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Pop-art on pots

Jimmy Johns is a self-taught artist. At his studio, he turns humble pots into colourful works of art.

Jimmy Johns wore a pair of orange pants seven years ago, which upset the fashion sensibilities of quite a few people in downtown Kochi, especially his parents. “Today you see guys wearing crazy coloured pants and suddenly, it is cool,” he says. Dressed in a tight-fitting white T-shirt and black jeans, gelled hair combed down, thick moustache in place, style, for Jimmy, is the most important thing — the kind of thing that defines a personality. In fact, his engagement with style has a lot to do with his line of work.

Jimmy is a self-made pop-artist, who began painting on a series of pots a year-and-a-half ago. In the porch of his house at Edappally, which doubles as his studio, ‘Creative Fingers’, occupying pride of place is a huge Will Smith pot. The Hollywood star’s face lies spread out on a fat white pot. Caricaturing is Jimmy’s forte, one finds out, as American President Barack Obama emerges on another pot. There is a Rajnikant lookalike and Sylvester Stallone, too. Celebrity faces find an interesting representation in Jimmy’s works. He picks his personalities after regarding them carefully. “I have to feel the depth of their eyes, you know.” When he does pick a subject, his or her eyes, ears and cheeks are the defining factors. “The overall expressiveness of the face, too,” Jimmy explains. Jim Carrey is the next face he has chosen. “His face makes me think of a triangle. The pot will be triangular.”

Jimmy draws his inspiration from a mix of pop-culture influences. He is an ad filmmaker, who runs a company called Ad Minister, and a graphic artist, who briefly considered becoming a fashion designer. He is currently pursuing a course in interior designing and visual merchandising. He is an amateur photographer, too. “I would like to believe that I picked up a bit from everything,” he says. The pots on display at the studio showcase a variety of random images ranging from a light bulb to penguins, motifs inspired by playing-cards, scenery and models showing off designer clothes and make-up. “Fashion is such an intriguing subject; you can keep on drawing from it.” He simulates the proportions of the pots and the images on the computer before he begins work on them.

“Pots are not just for sticking flowers into. They can contribute to the interiors a great deal,” he says. His pots cost between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 8,000.

He gets his pots custom-made in Nilambur, Malappuram district. They come in unique sizes; the tallest one being about 3-ft.

Pot-making is a long procedure. They are left out to dry for about 20 days and then for another 10 days, they are left inside the kiln.

The pots are then treated intensively before being painted upon. The paintings, Jimmy stresses, done in acrylic, do not fade and are not affected by vagaries of the weather. During the initial stages, he even left some out in the sun and the rain to test their durability.

While most of his works are on clay pots, Jimmy has been working on wood too. His current preoccupation is with clocks. He has designed a few of them on printed synthetic sheets, in different themes.

(Report by Anasuya Menon, Photos by K K Mustafa, for The Hindu)

Between the Lines, S L Parasher Collection, The Petite Pretty show and more..

NEWS

Between The Lines -  Indian Printmaking

( A print on display by Somnath Hore)

National Gallery of Modern Art,(NGMA) Mumbai, presents the traveling exhibition , ‘Between The Lines -  Identity, Place and Power’, The exhibition displays selections from American artist, Waswo X.Waswo’s collection of Indian prints. The show is curated by art historian and curator Lina Vincent Sunish.

The show displays prints made with a variety of printing techniques like lithographs, woodcuts and serigraphs. The show also documents the complete history of Indian printmaking traversing a span of about 100 years.Some of the prints date back to 1917 to the contemporary ones from 2012. There are about 152 works, by 79 artists which are merely a part of over 200 works from the collection.

The show is to preview on the 31st of July 2013, and will be inaugurated by eminent artist Atul Dodiya and Pheroza Godrej.

Special out reach programs associated with the show include, a talk by the Collector, Waswo X Waswo titled, ‘ Collecting Prints’ on the 1st of August at 6:00 pm and a panel discussion ‘Printmaking Today: Stories from young artists’ with Subrat Behera, Moutushi, Venugopal VG, Soghra Khurasani, Sachin Naik and Tanujaa Rane on the 28th of August 2013.

The show will be on view till the 31st of August 2013.

Flavours of Art

KalaRasa Art Space, Bangalore presents a unique inaugural show of young artists’ art works. A whopping 71  young artists are participating in this show organized by Kala Rasa - Flavors of Art. 

KalaRasa – Flavors of Art, is that platform which has embraces every aspect of the artistic world that stirs the soul in more levels than one. It is a welcoming opportunity for sculptors, curators, budding artists and renowned ones, literature lovers as well as fashion enthusiasts. 

The show, one of its kind to be held in the art space for the first time brings talented artists from all over the country and presents their works, alongside established and renowned artists works. The show is curated by Harish Kumar Sejekan.

The show will be on view on the 18th of August, from 10:00 am to 8:30 pm.

Art For A Cause

People’s Art Group and Sanskruti School of Fine Art, collaborate under the able guidance of artist Ashok Bhowmick, present a show specifically aimed at raising funds for the Uttarakhand disaster victims and their families.

The show displays paintings rendered in oils and acrylic on canvas and sized alike, 18” x 18”, and all priced alike at Rs.2000/- only.

This exhibition is organized in AIFACS, Delhi and is being represented by senior and young practicing artists from Ujjain, Dewas, Ratlam, Kota, Ahmednagar, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kharagpur, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.

This exhibition, apart from its basic purpose of making a humble contribution to the cause, also commits itself to the role of Peoples’ Art Group to make art accessible and affordable to everybody.

The show is on view from the 10th of August to the 11th August 2013 at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi.

The Petite Pretty show

( A work on display at the show)

Chawla Art Gallery Delhi, presents a group show of talented artists in a show titled, ‘The Petite Pretty’. The title is so used fort he size restrictions of each of the paintings on view, 3 x 3 ft.

The show displays works of artists Abhinav Chowbey, whose interest has been evident in the sphere of performing arts since childhood. Arijoy Bhattacharya, draws from diverse influences ranging from post-modern philosophy to Indian metaphysical traditions. Asit Kumar Patnaik, is a national scholar and a MFA topper from BHU and has received several provincial and national awards, the latest being a grand felicitation from the Government College of Art and Crafts.

To add these to the line of artists are renowned contemporaries Bharat Bhushan Singh, Chintan Upadhyay, Maya Burman, Ramesh Gorjala, Satish Gujral, Shipra Bhattacharya and Suhas Roy, amongst others. 

The show is on view till the 20th of August 2013.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Delineating Pain

The works of S.L. Parasher, an iconic muralist, painter and sculptor, find a permanent home in the city, reports Shailaja Tripathi

(Walls that talk: Inside the gallery devoted solely to S.L. Parasher's works.)

The city has an addition to its list of galleries. This one is exclusively meant for S.L. Parasher, considered one of India’s most significant painters and sculptors. His children simply wanted to create a space for the huge collection he left behind.

Though his art is scattered across museums, galleries, art institutions and private collectors across the world, at his South Extension home — where he lived after moving to Delhi from Shimla, lay a large assortment of works packed in trunks.

“They were in addition to the works which were out in the open in our house. We were living with them and continue to live with them,” says Bela Sethi, Parasher’s daughter who along with her siblings decided to give a permanent space to his art. “Actually, it was our youngest sister Prajana Paramita Parasher, who took the initiative. She is an artist herself and is the one who has curated the collection displayed here. But the idea was to create a space where we could hang his paintings,” says his son Raju Parasher.

(Works on display)

Open to public, the Parasher family is keen that more and more students visit the space dedicated to the educationist. He was the founder principal of School of Arts, Shimla, and the vice-principal of Mayo College of Art, Lahore, when Partition, the tragedy which inspired several art works of his, happened. Apart from a large chunk of these, the collection on display has works from his days in Shimla depicting vignettes of rural life, sculptures like ‘Thirst’, ‘Lonely Piligrim’, ‘Goddess of death’ — his last sculpture done in terracotta just a few days before his death — and Ganesha, again in terracotta.The sketches and line drawings of Parasher capture the agony of those caught in the tragedy.

Born in Gujranwala in Pakistan in 1904, Parasher, like so many others, was uprooted from his place of birth and moved along with other refugees to India.

He became the Camp Commander at Baldev Nagar Refugee Camp, where he witnessed loss at close quarters. Painting in the camp, he produced sketches and drawing that captured the torment of refugees. Works like a group of women huddled together sharing misery with their mouths open in shock, grieving men, head of a refugee woman, bearing stark expressions occupy the section dedicated to his work on Partition. “He had a large oeuvre. He made sculptures in every material — terracotta, bronze, wood. And then, there are so many phases in his artistic career like landscapes, spirituality,” says Sethi. The family intends to replace the displayed set of works with another set, thus rotating the works.

(Works on display)

“There are so many still left to be framed and archived,” says the son of the artist who never really actively exhibited while he was alive.

One of his major shows was a retrospective held at the India Habitat Centre in 2004, on his 100th birthday, much after his death, followed by an exhibition of his Partition sketches in London and Berlin.

S.L.Parasher’s mural adorns the walls of Nirman Bhawan and Kidwai Bhawan in Delhi.

( Report and Photography by Shailaja Tripathi for The Hindu)