Art from behind bars, Across the City, Music Sketches and more..

NEWS

Art from behind bars

( Art from behind bars)

Kamalnayan Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai presents a show titled, ‘Art from behind bars’ displaying the art works of inmates and some who have been released from prison. Kavita Shivdasani takes up an all new initiative to keep the art form alive. Know Your Environment, an initiative by Kavita, brings to you the never-before seen exhibition of art works titled ‘Art From Behind Bars’. The collection on display is a depiction of creativity which is at once sensitive and at once a representation of the human condition.

The launch of book titled ‘Surrealist’, a collection of short stories and verses inspired by art from behind bars also took place.

The participating artists are Naresh Baskar Jadhav, Lalita Ramanrao Gonugunta, Baby John Parkal, Sunil Baviskar, Sudeb Manmohan Pal.

The show is on view till 14th December 2013.

Across the City

(Work by Thomas Henriot)

Alliance Française de Delhi and Calcutta Arts Club present  ‘Across the city’ by Thomas Henriot, a French artist. ‘‘Across the City” brings together Thomas’ experience of his numerous journeys in Morocco, Lebanon, Togo, China, Argentina, Oman, Mai, Mauritania, USA, Cuba, Brazil and particularly India which marked an essential stage in his approach which places his paintings in the heart of a different culture, in a concentration close to meditation.

Thomas uses his art as a link and a language to create contact with unknown spectators who witness the elaboration of his works. He juxtaposes in figurative motif, landscapes, architectures, characters, the rubbing of real elements which are at his disposal around him.

The show is on view till 14th December 2013.

Gilding a tradition in art

( work by Prabhavati Meppayil)

Gallery Ske, Bangalore is presenting a solo art exhibition of the art works of Prabhavati Meppayil. This artist belongs to a family of goldsmiths and the art works depict the struggle, activities and all aspects of agrarian activity. Interaction between nature and man is another subject of her art creations. 

Prabhavati uses traditional goldsmith techniques and adds metallic strands on lime gesso fora unique outcome. Her art works are fine examples of meditation and precision leading to master pieces.

The show commences on 14th December and will be on view till 8th February 2014.

Music Sketches

Indian Cartoon Gallery, Bangalore presents a solo show titled, ‘Music Sketches’ by artist and cartoonist Keshav, who began his career in cartooning with sketches of musicians during concert in the 1980’s.  

He has been sketching musicians for the past two decades vigorously.  These are not exactly caricatures but have the spontaneity of sketch. 

The show is on view till 21st December 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Paradise lost

Paula Sengupta’s works explore the consequences of displacement even as they delicately weave in traditional elements

(Work by Paula Sengupta)

“On 30 March 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet into exile in India. Since then, over a hundred-and-twenty thousand Tibetan refugees have followed their leader into exile, fleeing their homeland in an effort to practice and conserve the Tibetan way of life,” the introduction to artist Paula Sengupta’s work Into Exile on display at Apparao Galleries, says. The exhibit, a collection of installations, tackles the refugee issue while also posing several questions over the way things have turned out for the country and its people. The story of Pema Dhargyal, a 57-year-old who has left his family behind in Tibet and has come to India simply because he wanted to be close to the Dalai Lama, is detailed crisply at the exhibit, juxtaposed against traditional Tibetan wood carving. “He has left his entire family behind and has no communication with them, because in his village there are no communication facilities. They know he is well and here and he knows they are there,” says Paula dressed in traditional Tibetan attire at the launch of her exhibit.

There’s another installation featuring a story as told by refugees to the artist, about soldiers in blue uniform arriving to a peaceful village with a monkey and a dog. Paula has used a traditional Tibetan craft to illustrate this entire story. Across the room is another piece called Prayer Wheels. Here technology flirts freely with Tibetan craft traditions, and the result is stunning. A set of monastery-like prayer wheels in white revolve (the entire set-up runs on electricity), and is self-lit from the inside. It features the same soldier-monkey-dog story. “It was told to me by two refugees. It details how the Chinese soldiers came to their village,” she says.

( Work by Paula Sengupta)

“I saw the Tibetan way of life preserved in parts such as Ladakh and Spiti, but only when I went to Dharamshala did it all come together for me. I understood how a whole other country was functioning from here,” she says. Paula also wanted to understand why and how the Dalai Lama had captured the imagination of these people. “I wanted to know if it was the institution or if it was the Dalai Lama who drew them,” she muses.

Memories, memories...

Paula, who has a doctorate in the history of Indian printmaking from Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, also points out that she was able to work on this project on a deeper level because her family was from East Bengal (currently Bangladesh). “I was born and brought up in India. When I went to Bangladesh, I experienced a great sense of loss. I can see something similar here at work. Can people keep their culture alive just through memory?” she asks. In her statement about this exhibit Paula has further stated: “The Tibet plateau lies contiguous with the high altitude plateaus of the Indian and Nepal Himalayas, to which I am a frequent visitor. My interest in displaced societies, enforced migration, the retention of memory, and threatened identities (of which I myself am a victim due to the partition of Bengal in 1947) led me to investigate the Tibetan crisis.”

Into Exile is on till January 2, 2014 at Apparao Galleries.

(Report by Lakshmi Krupa for The Hindu)