Sold Out Skyline, Upvan Arts Festival and more..

NEWS

Sold Out Skyline

( Work on display)

Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai presents ‘Sold Out Skyline’, a solo exhibition by Nanda Das. Photo realist painter Nanda Das returns to Bombay and Sky. 

Water is ofcourse there but now it is the city’s vast empty skyline. Nanda’s approach to these series of paintings represents the exact opposite mental process of transition of his conflicted relationship to a world. The artist in this body of work is trying to come to terms with the dissonance and disorientation of urban life. 

‘The loss of concrete connections to the objects of senses creates a void in the contemporary generation’. It unleashes a flow of new and elusive perceptions. Giving them the visual characteristics by painting skyscapes is his way to explore them. So Nanda buys a small amount of sky with a click of camera to create this series – Sold Out Skyline.

The show is on view from 15th January to 28th January 2014

Upvan Arts Festival

A one of its kind arts festival is about to begin in Thane,titled the ‘Upvan Arts Festival’, on the banks of the Upvan lake. The festival will  host programs in various fields of art and artistic expressions from dance, music and visual arts and work as a platform for creative discourses and collaborative efforts. 

The attempt is to develop a love for the arts in the local areas and bring forth a dialogue between society and the art and cultural community from India and abroad. Since a festival of such a vast ambition is taking place for the first time in Thane, a comprehensive programme has been designed which includes the best representation of Visual arts from Thane , India and abroad, across its various mediums and practices to create a new view of the world – inside-out, outside-in.

The three days festival is on from 10th January to 12th January 2014.

The Fluid Drama

Apparao galleries, Chennai and Sandy’s present a solo show titled, ‘The Fluid Drama: A Colourful Reflection of Life’. the show displays the fluid artworks of artist Rajarajan. 

The works on display at the show are rendered in the water colour medium on paper and canvas. The dreamy and fluid works portray figuratives with every day scenes in a rural scenarios. The figures in the paintings appear to be engrossed in their daily chores of selling buying wares and objects, hinting at the mundane and the existential.

The show is on view till 7th February 2014.

The Gang of Creativepreneurs

Art-tickles is exhibiting creative, exclusive and customised products in this exhibition at the The Stainless Art Gallery, New Delhi. This exhibition will have fashion, sculptures, paintings, photography, home furnishing, cakes and bakes, packaging, textiles and much more. 

This will be a one stop destination for a number of things that are essentials for many. This will be a launch cum exhibition of various handpicked products as well as services for the visitors. Art-tickles is an initiative for retail and entrepreneurship that is committed to promote their products and aesthetic creations.

The exhibition is on view from 17th January to19th January 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Nature takes its course

Sam John Verghese’s surreal paintings travel through forests, landscapes and historic sites

( Sam John's Work)

Nature appears to be an inseparable part of Sam John Verghese’s art. It appears as cascading waterfalls, a canopied forest or creepers that cling to the walls of historic ruins. His solo show is on display at Gallery Sri Parvati.

The 20-year-old’s pencil sketches and transparent water colour paintings are surreal and take one into forests, historic sites and landscapes across South India — whether it is the pine forest in Kodaikanal, the Gingee and Sadras forts or the Office of Forest Conservation in Vellore. “I love Nature and trees. I find God’s work very inspiring,” says the artist.

Sam’s grandfather, a commercial artist, was one of his inspirations. “I began painting at the age of six, and when I came to know about my grandfather’s interest in art, I was completely taken over by it. So, by the time I was 11, I was learning under V. Danushkodi, who taught me many techniques,” he adds.

The colours of Sam’s art are earthy and there is a certain life about them. The work Number 14 depicts a dilapidated shanty barely standing on its wooden poles. Set against a dramatically auburn sky, the painting captures a moment in time. In front of the shanty, there are two tables, and from one, a torn sheet flutters in the breeze. On the other, there is a tea container and a mud pot, as if someone left them there and intended to come back.

( Sam John's Work)

Another watercolour painting is of a colonial bungalow with its stately columns holding up the tall entranceway. The slanting terracotta roof blends into a limestone structure with a courtyard. Behind the building, a vast green area stretches out. A man walks in front with a phone in hand. A blue sign board on the front of the building reads Office of Conservation of Forests.

One of his pencil sketches is of the Mamallapuram shore temple. It is a silhouette and yet there are many details — from the sculptures lined at the entrance to those on the gopurams above. Another is of a grand old tree that is shedding its leaves, watching the ground beneath it thrive with life. There are more trees far away, and this tree stands tall, ageing gracefully.

His take on Sadras Fort is like a photograph. One can see the broken warehouses with their limestone and exposed brick, the little building in the middle that is ruined and consumed by a tree, and the fort ramparts.

Sam’s exhibition is on display at Gallery Sri Parvati, Eldams Road, Alwarpet, till January 12th 2014.

(Report by Anusha Parthasarathy for The Hindu)