Storytellers, Still Alive, Outpost and more..

NEWS

Storytellers of Art

(Work on display)

Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi presents an art exhibition displaying works of three artists. Titled, 'Storytellers' this is an art exhibition which brings the works of three immensely talented artists under one roof. The artists whose works will be on display include Mayank Shyam, Sukhnandi Vyam and Bhajju Singh Shyam.

These artists belong to the Pradhaan community which is the largest tribe of central India. These Pradhans are interactive storytellers who amuse the audience with their stories related to nature and mankind.These artists stand apart from their clan as they have evolved and their works have developed a strong contemporary language.

The show is on view till 20th February 2014.

Still Alive

(work by Prangopal Ghosh)

Icon Art Gallery, Hyderabad presents a solo show of art works by artist Prangopal Ghosh. The show titled, ‘Still Alive’ will feature a range of art works which depict still life paintings. 

Rendered in oil and acrylic on canvas, the show features various compositions of nature still lifes, capturing the irony of the words in the works. Vibrant in colour, distinct in composition and fluidity of the elements feature in the works.

The show previews on 25th January 2014 and is on view till 6th February 2014.

Silent Windows

(work by Amrish Malvankar at the show)

Gallery 7, Mumbai presents an eclectic exhibition titled ‘Silent Windows’. The exhibition will feature the works by a few of India's leading contemporary abstract artists like Manish Pushkale, Pandit Khairmar, Akhilesh, Vijay Shinde, Prakash Waghmare, Rajendra Patil, Amrish Malvankar, Pradeep Nerukar and Rajwant Kaur Mann. 

With a variety of mediums and art processes experimented and perfected, the show displays a range of exquisite and soulful abstract art.

The show is on view till 10th February 2014.

Outpost

On the occasion of the India Art Fair - 2014, The Italian Cultural Center, New Delhi presents a solo show of works by artist Samar Singh Jodha. His latest enterprise is a visual disquisition on a global culture where individual aesthetic notions, framed by commercial interests are homogenized to such a degree by mass media that spontaneous individual expressions often emerge as accidental bi-products of non-aesthetic pursuits. 

He highlights this unusual state of affairs via a pictorial trope of discarded containers fashioned into habitat by miners in India’s pristine northeast. The interplay of narratives represented by a broken people and their robust expression unravels the threads of a global technopoly that promises a rosy future to many of us via rapid innovation, while simultaneously condemning many others to centuries-old regression. 

Deploying photographic imagery as the foundation of this work, Jodha summons a visual discourse that is rooted in documentary practice, yet is scarcely mimetic of that art form.  The sliver of optimism in this work is a notion that art-making is too precious a gift to be restricted only to the virtuoso.

The show will be on view from 25th January to 28th February 2014.

( News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

One line, myriad expressions

Arunambika N.H. has covered a canvas with 150 single-line contour drawings of Swami Vivekananda

(Arunambika N.H. with her single line contour drawings of Swami Vivekananda)

One hundred and fifty years after his birth, the life of social reformer and religious leader Swami Vivekananda has been brought to life through 150 contour drawings by Arunambika N.H. of Asan Nagar, Muttathara. Even more fascinating is the fact that the 150 different forms and expressions of Swami Vivekananda stem from a single unbroken line.

Drawing and other creative pursuits with colours have always been a hobby for Arunambika, a consultant eye physician at Neyyattinkara Taluk Hospital. During her spare time, she dabbled in various forms of art and that is how she found herself drawing inspiration from single-line drawings. She says: “Though I have done single-line drawing before, this is the first time that I attempted something on this scale.”

It started with a single-line contour drawing of seven pictures of Swami Vivekananda’s mentor Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his consort, Sarada Devi. “One day, I suddenly felt that I should try making 150 drawings of Swami Vivekananda as a tribute to the saint who has contributed immensely to our country and the world.”

She began collecting pictures from various sources including the Internet and old volumes of magazines brought out by the Ramakrishna Mission.

Sourcing the reference photographs to portray milestones in the life of Swami Vivekananda, though, was not easy. Until her husband, V. Vivekanandan, remembered a book containing Swami Vivekananda’s photographs gifted to him by his father-in-law. The book Photographs of Swami Vivekananda, published by Vedanta Society of North California, has snaps of Vivekananda from 1886 to 1901. “I was thrilled, to say the least,” says Arunambika.

Using the book as reference material, she captured on canvas the evolution of Narendranath Datta of Calcutta [Kolkata] to Swami Vivekananda, as the world reveres him today.

Arunambika feels that even in the photographs Vivekananda’s eyes capture the viewer’s attention. “It has been remarked that through his eyes, he could make others perceive God. His eyes literally attracted people to his cause.”

The mother of two, who is now planning a chronological narrative of Swami Vivekananda life and achievements through single line contour drawings, says: “Through this, I wish to communicate to and remind youngsters about the supreme contributions made by Swami Vivekananda to humanity. ”

( Report by Rema Sundar; Photo by S Gopakumar for The Hindu)