Hana - The Lotus, Gazing into the Myth, Meditative Hues and more..

NEWS

Hana - The Lotus

( Work by Yuriko Ando Lochan)

India International Centre, New Delhi, presents a solo show titled, ‘Hana- The Lotus’. The show displays thew works of artist Yuriko Ando Lochan. Lotus is the central theme of the lyrical works on display as the lotus captures the hearts of people, as a representation of life. It has the connotation of the view on life based on the concept of eternal change.

The artist successfully merges in the works, the two enriching cultures that have influenced her, Indian and Japanese, where India is the primal source of human culture and Japan of refined sensibilities of her origin, together forming an soulful body of work.

The show will be inaugurated by H E Takeshi Yagi, Ambassador of Japan in India, and Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, Chairperson IIC- asia project.

The show previews on 25th March 2014 at 6: 30 pm and is on view till 1st April 2014.

Meditative Hues

(work on display)

Gallerie Ganesha, New Delhi presents a solo show of paintings titled, ‘Meditative Hues’.

Artist Niti Jain shows her meditative abstracts in this show. There has been a marked evolution in her work. 

For her previous show, she had created abstracts with vibrant bold colors, vigorous strokes and pronounced brush stroke. 'Meditative Hues' in contrast is a calmer rendition with a subtlety that speaks of an inherent spirituality.

The show is on view till 27th March 2014.

Gazing into the Myth

(Work by Jayasri Burman)

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore and Ruchika Anand present a solo show of paintings by eminent artist Jayasri Burman. The works are displayed in the show titled, ‘Gazing into the Myth’. 

The exquisite and intricate works portray figures and interconnected stories from nuances of mythology and history. The narratives dominate the distinct style that the artist employ presenting to the viewer a tapestry of colour, beauty and folk lore.

The show is to be held at the Visual Art Centre, Hong Kong and previews on 19th March from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

The show is on view till 23rd March 2014.

The charm of still life

( Work by Puja Sethi)

Beanstalk, Gurgaon presents an art show by artist Puja Sethi. Puja Sethi is trained in fine arts at Columbia University and the Art students league of New York. 

Presently her area of work is realism and naturalism in art using oil, watercolor and diverse drawing media.

The show displays some exquisite still life paintings and her skill in portraitures. With vibrant colours and skill of rendition, the works on display traverse a large variety of subjects.

The show is on view till 21st March 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

When East meets West

A joint exhibition of paintings by Victoria A.M. and Wilhelm Bronner depicts the meeting of cultures

(Artist Victoria A.M with one of her paintings. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat)

Victoria A.M.’s ‘Moonshade’ tells the story of a baby girl at birth, traces her growth into childhood and womanhood, through the joys and sorrows of life, intertwining it with the metaphor of a river’s lifeline. Much like life’s unexpected turns, dangers lurk within the river’s beauty too. The painting, dominated by two women resting beneath jasmine flowers, is inspired by Victoria’s 2006 poem on Indian villages that told of the unspoken sadness of flowers whose nectar has been stolen by bees at dusk. “A woman’s life in this world is like that too; the small ‘sadness’es of her being go unseen,” she says. ‘Moonshade’ is on display at ‘East Meets West’, an exhibition of Victoria’s works with those of German artist Wilhelm Bronner.

Just across the room stands Wilhelm’s installation of 20 pairs of wooden squares each marked with ‘E’ and ‘W’ on its corners. Two peers figure in each pair, one representing the Indian side of things and the other, the German side. For instance, while the German uses his umbrella against the rain, the Indian shields himself from the sun. “I plan to take this exhibition to Germany too. So, for the Indians here, this is an introduction to our culture, and for the Germans, it’s an introduction to India,” he says.

(Artist Wilhelm Bronner with one of his paintings. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat)

Wilhelm and Victoria met in 2013, through a common friend, at Victoria’s Mattancherry studio while Wilhelm was here for the Biennale last March. Victoria had earlier been introduced to German culture through an exhibition of her works in Berlin in 2011, held as a fundraiser for Adivasi girls. Wilhelm has been to India six times in the last 40 years. The two decided to collaborate on an art show that would depict the meeting of Indian and German cultures. ‘East Meets West’ features four of Wilhelm’s pieces, besides the installation, and six by Victoria — two oils and four acrylic-on-canvasses.

The meeting of cultures is best seen in Wilhelm’s ‘The Indian City’, done only in red, black and white. It is his artistic impression of traffic in big Indian cities where buses, auto rickshaws and cars manoeuvre between bikes, cows and dogs, in a chaotic confusion that somehow functions. “I was overwhelmed by the sound and noise of India when I first came, and this shows my experience of it as just an outsider’s observations, not judgements.” In the central three pieces, ‘East-West faces’, a pair of eyes looks out of each quadrant of the square paintings, and hands reach out from one side to the other in friendship, symbolic of the mutual connection between cultures. “I want to show that though we have different social behaviours and politics, we are above all human and connected to the world.”

Victoria’s paintings reflect her education in Shankaracharya’s teachings, and explore humankind’s relationship with this earth. ‘Shell collectors’ and ‘Little land and even less water’ deal with the struggles of everyday living; the first depicts women collecting shells for income, and the second shows women searching for water. ‘Past and Present’ expounds the idea further saying that regardless of race, all our bodies return to the soil once the soul leaves. Two women separate the canvas, the first wholly human, the second made of mud with birds shooting out of her eyes. “Both are self portraits,” says Victoria. The exhibition is on till March 16.

(Report by Esther Elias for The Hindu)