In Order to Join, All I have Learned and Forgotten, and more..

NEWS

IN ORDER TO JOIN − THE POLITICAL IN A HISTORICAL MOMENT

This is an international exhibition of a generation of women artists  built around the work of dear friend Rummana Husain who died tragically young, leaving an important body of work behind. 

Curated by Swapnaa Tamhane and Susanne Titz the show opens on Sunday, 8 December at Museum Abteiberg Abteistra.e 27 D-41061 Monchengladbach. Participating artists are: 

Helen Chadwick, Chohreh Feyzdjou, Angela Grauerholz, Sheela  Gowda, Jamelie Hassan, Mona Hatoum,Rummana Hussain, Shelagh  Keeley, Astrid Klein, Ana Mendieta, Pushpamala  N., Adrian Piper, Lala Rukh andRosemarie Trockel.

The work of Rummana Hussain (1952-1999) and her title “In Order to Join” in 1998 were the initial inspiration  for this exhibition as a way to consider how one responds to a rapid moment of political change. “In Order to Join” brings together artists born between  1947 and 1957 – the postwar, post-Partition era to look at works and practices that engage with a political framework addressing concepts of nationalism and institutions while questioning their own position within these  structures. This generation indicates signs of social liberalisation and  emancipation; they were children when the Cold War began, adolescent  and young women during the Vietnam War, the oil crisis of 1973, or Indira Gandhi’s Emergency regime from 1975 to 1977.These artists enter and depart from dialogues with but are not positioned within Western canonical frames such asModernism, Pop, Performance Art, or even the Feminist movement of the 1970s. They are in the “in- between”, standing alongside but 

very much present. This “instability” is due to the dominance of conceptual strategy and thinking, and ultimately, they are both working with and against the possibility of “joining”.

“In Order to Join” will tour to Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, 1 November to 14  December, 2014. There will be a workshop in association with KHOJ International  Artists’  Association, Delhi, in December 2014.

Kaleidoscopic expression

Artists’ Centre, Mumbai, presents a group show of art works by various artists. The works on display range from figuration, realistic and abstract, to landscape and cityscapes in various styles like oil and acrylic on canvas and pen on paper drawings. 

The participating artists are Naren Panchal, Babubhai Mistry, Natu Mistry, Manhar Kaadia, Mansi Chheda and are upcoming and established artists.

The show is on view from 2nd December (preview) to 8th December 2013.

All I have Learned and Forgotten

Gallery Espace, New Delhi presents a solo show of Delhi based artist, Tanmoy Samanta. Titled, ‘All I have Learned and Forgotten’, the exhibition starts on 12^th December 2013 and is on view till 12 January 2014. Santiniketan educated Tanmoy Samanta has been a strong presence in the Indian contemporary art scene though the artist himself shies away from publicity and glamour. His works find resonance with his personal nature. 

Aptly titled this show is a way of stock taking of his creative career so far. Minimalism is Tanmoy’s forte. He without abstracting the individual qualities of persons and objects, gives them an iconic status in minimal terms. His colours are subdued and the images are quite contemplative. He uses a sort of wry witticism to comment on the social events without referring to the particularities of such events. Oscillating between a sort of folk naivety and a studied satire, these works evoke a sort of identification between them and the viewer.

The graphic quality of Tanmoy’s works is striking. Against a flat background he creates two dimensional characters without resorting to narrative tendencies. His works are in major collections in India and abroad and his works have been included in many important shows.

Remembered Abstractions

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore and Art Intaglio presents a solo show of photography art by eminent artist Ravikumar Kashi. The show is titled, ‘ Remembered Abstractions’ and displays a series of his recent works in photography.

Ravikumar is a multifaceted artist with a great many social concerns, and a love for learning paired with constant need to grow as an artist moving from medium to medium until he finds a niche in which he is fully comfortable. Here in this show he exhibits his foray into photography.

The show previews on 4th December and is on view till 21st December 2013.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Memories through Colours

Evolved by Tania Thomas articulates the artist’s thoughts and stories from the past

( Work on display)

What keep appearing in S. Tania Thomas’ art are circles, hemispheres and the bright complexity of reds, yellows and oranges. The canvasses tell her thoughts, her memories and some stories through interesting gradation and mixture of colours. Her solo show Evolved is on display in the city.

There are two vertical rectangular canvasses in the front, each depicting a time or season. Midsummer has many clocks and circles set on a brown background. The brown itself is streaked and dotted with yellow, white, black and blue. The clock is showing a time past noon, a protractor tilts towards an angle. In Noon, the clock is just nearing noon, there are reds, greens, yellows and blacks in the brown.

Abstract yet lucid

( Work on display)

End Of Storm is a picturesque story. The landscape is a lovely blur of colours. Everything is running into the other; the sky, orange sun, its reddish reflection on the water and the inky darkness deep under. They are all dripping and wet, just like a picture from a car window after a storm. Day Dreaming, an acrylic on canvas is abstract and yet lucid. What are day dreams made of? They’re red, especially if you close your eyes in a brightly-lit room, with orange rectangles and silver bubbles. There are dark lines crisscrossing these psychedelic colours and they have a creeping blackness on the sides, to carry you off into a deeper dream.

You look for meanings in Reflection. Perhaps it is just as straightforward as the red buildings in her art. There is a red city set amidst a vanilla sky. There are crosses and flags atop these skyscrapers, and when you look down, at their reflection, they are all black. Is there more to it? Siesta is like a tropical dream. There is sun, sand, water, and where the water meets the sky is a streak of sea-green.

Many worlds

Tania’s most impressive work with colours is perhaps in the Kaka series. There are three of these and one more painting on other birds. Birds has another red city (another element that recurs) and with a silver moon on the stop. A curtain of indigo on the side signifies the approaching darkness. A few parakeets are perched on top of dark silhouettes and a mountain of a skyscraper, lit by streaks of yellow. Kaka 2 has a sandy beach, clouds and ‘v’-shaped crows flying in the distant sky. On the sand, a few sit, peck at a fish and just gaze around.

Towards the end of the show, past her doodles, is A Spiritual Journey, a telling vision of the artist’s own journey. A white being, not unlike a cat or a four-legged creature, dances about in envious joy. On a corner of the black canvas is a tear-like view of a newspaper clipping. The white being is enveloped in a cocoon of three ash stripes with a vermillion and yellow dot in the centre.

Evolved is on display till November 30th 2013 at Vinnyasa Premier Art Gallery.

(Report by Anusha Parthasarathy for The Hindu)