Flittering Thoughts, Indian Vocabulary II, Nalini Malani at BDL Museum and more..

NEWS

Flittering Thoughts

( Work by Vipta Kapadia)

Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai presents a solo show of artist Vipta Kapadia’s recent suite of paintings. The show titled, ‘Flittering Thoughts’ are depictions of the artists refined and subtle thoughts on canvas in abstraction. 

Vipta’s works have been sprinkled with nuances which break the boundaries of monotony, be it in the visual or pictorial surface or the thought that it embodies. These works appear a  trifle more inhabited than her earlier works, where minimalism resided. The works of the new series, bring a composite harmony in colour, form and formless archiving of the intangible and ephemeral.

The show is on view till 9th December 2013.

Indian Vocabulary II

( Work by Jignesh Panchal)

Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi presents the solo show in collaboration with Zone of Contemporary art (ZOCA), of artist Jignesh Panchal.

The artist displays collage like works depicting the meeting point of religious conformity and non conformity, juxtaposing urban and rural motifs and elements in the work. Vibrantly coloured and replete with meaning, these works have a mild humourous undertone to them.

The show is on view till 10th December 2013.

Art Splash

(work on display)

Phoenix Marketcity, Mumbai and 4th Wall present an unique art exhibition of a group of artists  from all over the country. The show is titled, ‘Art Splash’ and displays an array of vibrant works in a multitude of genres by the artists. 

The participating artists are Ajay Narayan, Amita Gupta, Anita Trehan, Ashita Thakkar, Bharat Patre, Darius chinoy, Dhananjay Thakur, Dominic Anthony, Gaurav Chawla, Gayatri Tandon, Gopal Samantaray, Harpreet, Jayshree Savani, Lokeshwar Ray, Madhuri Kathe, Meenakshi, Meera Dawar, Neha Mukhi, Pranamita,  Priyanka Dua, Raghav Khanna, Rohan Dumbre, Ruchi Chaddha, Sabia Khan, Sanju Shenoy, Sheetal Shah, Shoma, Shuchi Khanna, Sujata Patre, Sunayana Malhotra, Virendra Sharma, Vineeta Vadhera.

The show is on view till 10th December 2013.

Nalini Malani at BDL Museum

Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai presents a show of works by eminent artist, and Fukuoka Prize 2013 winner, Nalini Malani. The show is curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta. 

Nalini Malani belongs to a generation of Indian artists who have received prominence internationally for her work concerned with race, class and gender issues. She can be seen as an activist artist in today’s times. Her works have been figurative mainly, water colour works on paper, in her unique visual language.
This show displays some of her figurative, water colour on paper works.

The show is on view till 12th January 2014.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

More than just a thousand words

Shiju S. Basheer’s ‘Unscripted Lives’ has a story behind each frame

(Shiju S Basheer with his work)

The phrase a picture is worth a thousand words holds good in Shiju S. Basheer’s exhibition of photographs. ‘Unscripted Lives’ is a collection of candid shots clicked by Shiju who travels quite a bit as part of his job as visual effects supervisor at TV Arts Production House, Dubai. ‘Unscripted Lives’ has pictures that gives a bird’s eye view into the artiste’s mind. His travels to Ethiopia and Nepal seem to have left a deep impact on him as he has a modest portfolio of photographs from these countries. If he has trained his lens on the tribal groups in Ethiopia, it is faces that he zooms in on mostly in Nepal.

Faces, especially that of the elderly, fascinates Shiju. Each close up shot of the faces, some in sepia tint, has a story to tell. Even without saying a word the faces seem to be telling viewers a story; a story about their lives that might have been filled with adventure, comedy, tragedy… The photographer sums the feel of his series of photographs on these elderly folk with a caption for one of the pictures – ‘Stories enriched in every wrinkle’.

( Work on display)

Shiju seems to be fond of taking a frame within a frame. In Dorze, Ethiopia, the photographer has clicked a picture of a grandfather and his grand daughter looking out of a box-shaped window. In another frame which was taken in Kathmandu, Nepal, a child is clicked looking out of the window. One of the pictures in this series that makes you stop to take a second look is perhaps one that shows a young woman looking out of a window of her brick house. The picture captioned ‘Beyond the window’, has one wondering if her eyes are fixed on a particular spot or if she is looking unseeingly as her thoughts wander.

Some of his frames makes the viewer reflect and introspect. The life of a nomad is captured well in a photograph of a man all bundled up from the cold. He is seated on a stairway with a dog to keep him company.

( Work on display)

That nature too has to fight for survival is portrayed in a picture of a creeper climbing up a wall. A picture titled ‘Missing’ sends a shiver through the bones as you stare at a picture of a doll’s head lying on a barren, dry land. The hidden message of how girls go missing everyday is clear.

A frame that makes viewers pause to take a second look is that of a shoal of fish. While the fish are swimming in one direction, one fish longs to be different – he breaks free from the school and swims in another direction.

( Work on display)

“I wanted to become a photographer after watching a documentary on war photography. I got my first camera in 2005 and have been clicking photographs since,” says Shiju, who hails from Kayamkulam. While, at first, Shiju would click anything that caught his fancy, he soon started focussing on topics. “I did a series called ‘Life in trash’ on the garbage collectors in the Middle East. The collection appeared in a photo journal in the United States.”

Ask him which is his personal favourite among the 100 photographs displayed as part of the exhibition at YMCA Hall, and Shiju points to a picture of eyes peeping out through a gap in the walls of a house.

(Report and photographs by Liza George for The Hindu)