Lost In Transition, Art for Concern, The Play of Life and more..

NEWS

Art For Concern

Art For Concern, Mumbai presents it’s first ever show of Traditional and Folk Art showcasing works from all over India. India has a beautiful tradition of folk art from numerous tribes and clans from varied corners of the country, reflecting details of their different ways of life and fascinating art forms.

In an attempt to give exposure to these beautiful art forms the show will have on display-cum-sale, works of art seldom seen in urban India, sourced from all over the country.

The art forms available on display will include Mata Ni Pachedi from Gujarat, Madhubani from Bihar, Phad & Pichwai from Rajasthan, Gond from Madhya Pradesh, Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh, Pattachitra from Odisha and Kalighat from Bengal.

The show is to be held at Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai from 13th January to 15th January 2014.

Lost in Transition

The Harrington Street Arts Centre presents an exhibition titled, ‘Lost In Transition’. The show focuses on the forgotten art of letter writing. Curated by Avijit Dutta, in collaboration with Calcutta Arts Club and the Samilton, the show will display art works of a plethora of Indian artists.

The participating artists are Karl Antao, Debnath Basu, R B Bhaskaran, Chandra Bhattacharya, Sanjaya Bhattacharjee, Rameshwar Broota, Jayasri Burman, Jayashree Chakraborty, Jogen Chowdhury, Bapi Das,Partha Dasgupta, Partha Pratim Deb, Avijit Dutta, Chhatrapati Dutta, Laxma Goud, Vanita Gupta, G r Iranna, B Manjunath Kamath, Seema Kohli, Prabhakar Kolte, Paresh Maity, George Martin, Theodore Mesquita, Veer Munshi, R M Palaniappan, Sunil Padwal, Birendra Pani, Jagannath Panda, Anuradha Pathak, Manish Pushkale, Anandjit Ray, Samir Roy, Dileep Sharma, Anupam Sud, Chippa Sudhakar, Lina Vincent Sunish, Vasundhara Tiwari, Thota Tharrani,T Vaikuntam and Venugopal VG.

The show is on view from 11th January to  20th January 2014.

Counter Suggestion

( image from the show)

Kerala Lalithakala Akademi presents a solo art exhibition titled, ‘Counter Suggestion’. The show displays the exquisite art works of artist Mohanpadre Soorambail Katte. The artist flourishes in the figurative and puts on show a collection of canvas and paper works with varying amounts of urban and rural influences.

The show was inaugurated by Dr Ramkumar Menon and other eminent senior artists.

The show is on view at the Madhava Menon Memorial Art Gallery till 11th January 2014.

The Play of Life

(work on display)

Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi presents an art exhibition titled ‘The Play Of Life’ displaying the bronze sculptures created by sculptor Ankit Patel. 

Patel is a very famous sculptor who has designed prestigious trophies including the Man of the match, Wills Cup India, 1995. A recipient of National Lalit Kala Akademi Award, Rajasthan State Lalit Kala Akademi Award and many others, his sculptures are well known.

This solo exhibition is one of the many exhibitions of this artist that have been hosted at many reputed global and Indian venues.

The show is on view till 10th of January 2014.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Vanishing walls

Artist Jyoti Bhatt says rural artists have more spontaneity and ease with art

(For posterity: Jyoti Bhatt’s photographs of rural art)

When he photographs the folk artists in India’s heartlands, he finds them to be contemporary artists who don’t just verbalize and put their art on a pedestal, but live with their art. “Across the villages, people live with art and they are constantly recreating. Though I had art school training for 10 years and have been practising for nearly 50 years, urban painters like me don’t have the ease and spontaneity that they have,” observes the 79-year old artist Jyoti Bhatt, best known for his work in printmaking and his photographs documenting rural art.

His exhibition, “Jyoti Bhatt — Photographs from Rural India”, currently on view at Tasveer, captures his journey across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar. The series of photographs is aimed at documenting not just the forms themselves, but how they are integrated in their lives.

“They show how the art is connected to the wall, which is connected to the house, which in turn is connected to its people. I wanted to show that kind of inter-relationship. Their art is part of society. What they miss, they paint on the walls whether it is the dying peacocks or the tigers , they paint their inherited memories.”

“The main idea is to record the art forms before they vanish. By the time people realize their value, they may not even be there because villages today are getting more money from industrialists who set up their factories in the rural areas. So their mud houses are turning into brick or stone houses on which they don’t want to paint because they feel that painting on them would be a sign of primitiveness. Though the brick and stone houses are ugly, the villagers feel they display their monetary status.”

Jyoti says he has focused on two basic art forms in series, art forms on walls and floors. “It’s because I studied painting that I could appreciate certain forms easily without bias. Most of this art is alive because the women didn’t change as much the men.”

One of the highlights of the photographs, as has been noted, is that his subjects are always aware that they are being photographed.

“I think it helps that they are aware because when they look at the camera, viewers will feel that they are looking at them. They can see their anthropological charm and a good photograph should bring out the characteristics of the subject whether emotional or psychological. If the subject is aware then there is a collaboration between the photographer and the subject.”

And so whenever he photographed the artwork, Jyoti recalls that he almost always asked for the artists to stand next to their work. “Then the size and scale of the artwork becomes visible. Without the human interest, the work may sometimes look dull or less interesting. The viewers are human and so their first choice of subject is a human.”

The only objective behind the series for Jyoti was to record the medium since it was the only way he could save it. “I could have continued to paint, but I found this more interesting and rewarding. I lost money, but I found satisfaction which is more important. India hasn’t lost anything because I didn’t paint. But somebody will be grateful that I made this because soon these art forms won’t be there.”

Jyoti hopes the younger photographs will be inspired to take up the task of doing this. “Everyday we are losing more of our art, there are more villagers giving up farming to go to the cities. Also there are people in power who tell the villagers what to do to make money, which changes their attitude. Then they no longer do it for love, they do it for money and this affects the work.”

“Jyoti Bhatt - Photographs from Rural India” will be on view until January 10 at Tasveer, Sua House, 26/1 Kasturba Cross Road. For details, contact Annu Dey at annu@tasveerarts.com or call 9481886913.

( Report by Harshini Vakkalanka for The Hindu)