VIEWS- Secretly Rebelling Souls in Strange Bodies - Parsis and Sidis of Sooni and Ketaki ..and more..

VIEWS

Secretly Rebelling Souls in Strange Bodies: Parsis and Sidis of Sooni and Ketaki

JohnyML writes about the solo exhibitions of Sooni Taraporevala and Ketaki Sheth at the NGMA, New Delhi.

(National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi)

National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi is now like a forcefully reversed architecture. The old Jaipur House that used to face grandly at the India Gate is now the backyard of the architectural monstrosity that has become the new wing. To facilitate the free flow of visitors to the new wing, which in fact lays at the backyard of the old wing, has now diverted the traffic through a side gate. You feel some sort of displacement; may be out of habit. The new wing has everything in place; a ticket counter, a security entrance, a bag checking machine, a locker, an art shop for buying books and souvenirs, and a lot of works of art at different levels. Though the lighting is absolutely inadequate, of late the NGMA has achieved one thing; getting more visitors into its premises. One feels happy as he/she sees kids running around in the lawns, art students doing watercolours, lovers holding hands, families standing curiously in front of works of art, foreigners walking in even on a hot Sunday afternoon.

( Sooni Taraporevala)

Inside the old building, this time you have two exquisite shows- Through a Lens, By a Mirror- Parsis by Sooni Taraporevala and The Sidi- Indians of African Descent by Ketaki Sheth. For both the artists, it should be a moment of pride as their works are shown at the prime national institution for modern art. Their decades-long researches and documentations look convincing and captivating. Sooni Taraporevala’s works are all about Parsis, a community that has been reduced to 65000 people in India (some Parsi insiders say, as seen in a documentary shown along with the exhibition, that their number is less than the official figures. It could be 50000 or even 30000). Taraporevala in her introductory note mentions that many people like her grandmother and grandfather are dead and gone but they remain as images. Ironically, the whole community is slowly disappearing.  This sense of losing it had goaded her to train her camera at her own community almost 36 years back. Today, it has become her mission and she has become an intimate name amongst the Parsi community in India. Perhaps, the outsiders know her more as a scriptwriter and a film maker, but for the Parsi community, she is the one who registers its thinning life fabric.

(My Grandfather - by Sooni Taraporevala)

Taraporevala does not make any clarion calls for change. Her photographs are not meant for inviting the governments’ attention to the community. Her registrations are more like diary writing, aesthetically appealing and poignantly touching. It is a struggle against forgetting and an underlining by remembering. She knows that there are various reasons for this community to perish. For a community that does not promote inter-marriages and also with men who prefer to remain bachelors for a longer period, the days of extinction are somewhere near.  All over the world, the total population of Parsis are just about two lakhs.

( Young priest and video game - Sooni Taraporevala)

 I had seen an edited version, perhaps the original, of the same show at the Chemould Gallery, Mumbai. I was struck by the aesthetic subtlety of those works. Each frame took the viewer in me into it. The fineness of execution, clarity of framing and even non-deliberation of moments seen in those works had made me an admirer of Taraporevala’s works. Now a bit more embellished exhibition is here in Delhi and it should be a visual feast for the Delhiites. For those who look for aesthetic satisfaction would not go back without having it and those who want to know the history of the Parsi community and their socio-cultural presence in the places of our concentration also would go with the same satisfaction. I want Delhi art lovers to queue up for this show. 

( Ketaki Sheth)

On the left wing, you have Ketaki Sheth’s ‘The Sidi’. Sidis are the people of African descent who had come to Indian shores almost 500 years back. They came as merchants and workers. Some settled down here in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Much of a genetic mutation through inter-marriages has not happened in this community. So their African physiognomic traits remain more or less pure. They predominantly believe in Islam and also believe in other religions including Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. They are racially different but are Indian citizens who speak Indian languages. As a Parsi gentleman in the documentary points out, however they try they cannot become ‘true’ Indians because they do not have a land. In Africa, Sidi’s are not welcomed as they are Indians; nor do they try to go back to their homelands as their homeland is India. So is the case of Parsis. This is another migrant community that has no fatherland; Iran no longer belongs to them. Seth’s documentation is touching.

(Sukhi a young resident of Jambur village - Ketaki Sheth)

Standing at the information board with a text written by Ketaki Seth, I found one interesting omission. There is no reference to Islam/Muslim in that text at all whereas most of the people who have become the subjects of Seth’s documentation are Muslims as their names and contexts show. Was it a safe positioning of the NGMA Administration or it was a deliberate choice of the artist? What caused the omission of the word ‘Muslim’ from the wall text? The question disturbs me. Taraporevala does not shy away from making even ‘critical’ pictures. Is it because she belongs to the community and Seth does a project amongst the Sidis? I am worried about omissions, especially when I know that this section of the show is in collaboration with Photoink.

( Work on display at the show)

In front of these works of both Taraporevala and Sheth, I felt some sort of an eerie feeling, which I had not felt when I saw the same show in Mumbai. I saw these characters and living people in their works as people living in strange bodies. Their minds belongs to a different climate and nature. Their bodies are caught in a strange land; Parsis and Sidis. According to our conventions of beauty, Parsis are fair, tall, long nosed and good looking people and Sidi, thick built, flat nosed, dark people. But suddenly they become one; one in their lost lands, in their memories, in their warring genes that refuse to obey though they accept the laws of the land. 

Again I say, everyone in Delhi should see these two shows; The Parsis and Sidis. 

JohnyML

NEWS

Best of R K Laxman

Indian Cartoon Gallery, Bangalore presents a treat for cartoon lovers with an exhibition of exquisite works of  legendary cartoonist R K Laxman.The Indian Institute of Cartoonists has organized this exhibition of selected best Political cartoons, pocket cartoons and caricatures of Mr. R.K. Laxman.

Born in Mysore and graduated from Maharaja College, R K. Laxman, has been the unofficial mascot of the Times of India and tickling the bones of readers for nearly five decades. 

Cartoons on the display are mostly of contemporary political and popular figures. The artworks of the master will be a rich visual experience for the viewers. The show is on view till 5th October 2013.

Pot Pourri

(Work at the show)

Russian Centre for Science and Culture, Mumbai presents a unique show of three artists in a group, titled, ‘Pot Pourri’. The show displays the works of three upcoming women artists, Mena Malgonkar, Minoti Gore and Rupali Gore.  ‘Pot Pourri’ showcases different sizes of works and aims to recreate the magic of simple paintings. 

On display will be a myriad mix of landscapes, portraits, rendered in charcoals, oils and acrylics by Mena Malgonkar along with Minoti Gore and Rupali Gore, ardent art lovers. Without focus on specific mediums or subjects, Pot Pourri is a confluence of vivid expressions through the eyes of these artists.

The show is on view till 29th September 2013.

Something About Hair

( Work from the show)

Alliance Francaise de Delhi, New Delhi presents an exhibition of photographs by photographer Oriane Zerah in a show titled, ‘Something about Hair’.

Oriane Zerah is an independent photographer, represented by Wostok Press agency. She was born in Paris, where she followed Dramatic Art studies and dance. She has worked with comedian Jean-Pierre Leaud, and then during a few years in a Franco-Polish group before joining Theater du Soleil (1999-2001).

The show explores the significance of hair from a mythological, commercial, historical and geographical evolutionary stance. From human to animal to plant hair the artist captures her multitude of interpretations of hair through photography.

The show is on from the 27th of September 2013 to the 11th October 2013.


Melange of Milieu

( Work on display at the show)

Idiyas Art Gallery, Bangalore presents a group show of art works, titled, ‘Melange of Milieu’.

With a mixture of figurative and abstractions on display, the show brings something for every one.

The participating artists include Prokash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandopadhyay, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Shubamita Dinda, Gourango Beshai, Subrata Das, Shyamal Mukherjee, Sukanta Das, Samir Paul, Dilip Chaudhury, Ramratan Das, Basudev Pal Mazumdar, Shambu Saha amongst others.

The show is on view till 10th of October 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FICA Emerging Artist Award 2013, Ways of the Road show, and more..

NEWS

Contemporary art galore

(work by Seema Kohli)

Gallery Space, Hyderabad presents a group show of art works by artists from all over the country. The show presents some eminent and well known names like Seema Kohli, Ramesh Gorjala, Bhairu Raghuram, Srinivas Reddy, Anand Panchal and Vennimalai.

Most of the artists work in distinct figurative styles developed over a duration of time into contemporary expressions. 

The show will be on view till 30th September 2013.

Ways of the Road

(Photograph at the show)

Alliance Francaise de Delhi presents a photography exhibition by  photographer Fabien Chaurau. Titled, ‘Ways of the Road” the show was created during the  3 week artist residency held in the village of Partapur in Rajasthan. 

The residency, Sandarbh, was a curated one with a special focus on the bus that runs through the village and the route it follows. More than the bus, the artist found himself preoccupied with documenting the road with its myriad elements.

The show is on view from the 26th of September 2013.

Kartik Sood awarded FICA - EAA 2013

(Work by Kartik Sood)

The Emerging Artist Award is one of the four annual support programmes offered by FICA. It seeks to promote young artists, studying or practicing in India, who demonstrate extraordinary skill and promise in the visual arts. The EAA 2013 is presented in collaboration with Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi, and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi. The recipient of the award receives a ninety-day residency in Switzerland in 2014, and a solo exhibition at the Vadehra Art Gallery in August 2015. This year the Emerging Artist Award was given to Vadodara based artist Kartik Sood.

The jury was impressed with the distinct visual quality of Kartik Sood's works which have been developed as stories, sometimes autobiographical but always with strong literary references, subtly coloured, layered and painterly. His video works dealing with issues of trauma and mysticism was acknowledged for its narrative form and mature handling of the subject without the burden of conspicuous metaphors. Sood's commitment to experimenting with new technologies and possibilities of sound came across as bold and confident.

N E W S- An artist statement

All India Fine arts & Crafts Society, New Delhi presents a group show of young and upcoming artists’ works. The show is titled, ‘N E W S - An artist statement’. 
The participating artists are Sumita Chakravarti, Chanchal, Rama Suresh, Aditi Gemini, Kishore Roy, Uday Goswami, Johnson and Subrata Biswas.

On display are paintings rendered in oils and acrylic on canvas along with other mediums like ink and charcoals. The show will be inaugurated by eminent actor and Member of Parliament, Raj Babbar on the 27th of September  2013 at 11:30 am

The show will be on view till 30th September 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Sketch of a Cartoonist

Gifted Ramki is not a professional, yet he is flooded with requests for wedding-related drawings.

(Ramki's wedding related drawing)

He is not a professional cartoonist. He is the Chief Coordinator at Coimbatore’s The Eye Foundation, a PR and event management expert. But Ramki’s first love is drawing cartoons. And this fascination is so deeply rooted that Ramki has now started off a new trend.

He had a flair for drawing cartoons from his school days, but Ramki took it up as a hobby only a few years ago. What triggered him off was an incident at a bank. To pass the time, while standing in a queue at a bank to withdraw cash, he started scribbling on a piece of paper. A gentleman, standing next to him, was closely observing this. He appreciated the cartoons Ramki had drawn in the course of a few minutes. The stranger’s encouragement inspired Ramki to take up cartooning seriously. In due course, he proved to be good at it.

(Ramki's wedding related drawing)

Recently, at the request of Dena Bank, Coimbatore, he drew two cartoons for the organisation, which were appreciated by the Branch Manager, who got them laminated and displayed them in the bank. These cartoons never fail to grab the attention of the customers.

A regular traveller between Chennai and Coimbatore, Ramki has made it a habit to start drawing in his notebook from the moment he takes his seat in the train. His co-passengers are often astonished by his skilful work, despite the jerks of the train. Ramki remembers an incident when some co-passengers gave him a poem, based on which he drew a few cartoons instantly, which were highly appreciated. He now has a collection of about 30 notebooks of his cartoons.

Depicting marriage rites

(Ramki's wedding related drawing)

Once, a young man, who was getting married, requested Ramki to capture in cartoons all the events of the wedding. These were later displayed at the entrance of the hall during the wedding and everyone was impressed by his talent. The foreigners among the guests evinced keen interest in them as they depicted the various customs associated with a traditional South Indian wedding. Many of them took photographs of Ramki standing next to his creations.

An Indian staying in the U.S., saw his work on Internet and requested Ramki to do a similar job for his sister’s wedding. This time, Ramki decided to deviate from his conventional style. He collected the photos of some important relatives, cut out the heads and pasted them on bodies that he drew. These cartoons, which reflected all the rituals connected with the wedding, were attention-grabbers.

(Ramki's Wedding related drawing)

These days, Ramki is flooded with demands from friends and acquaintances to draw wedding-related cartoons. For which, he works late into the night while listening to old Tamil songs. So far, he has created six series of wedding cartoons, which have received fantastic responses from people.

It has now become Ramki’s daily habit to paste his cartoons, conveying positive messages, on his office board. One such work depicted the Police Commissioner’s advice to the public on ‘How the occupants of multi-storied apartments should interact with one another.’

(Cartoonist Ramki)

He admires R.K. Laxman, to whom he once sent his cartoons and the veteran promptly rang him up and appreciated his effort. Ramki is grateful to cartoonist Triambak Sharma for his continuous encouragement and guidance. A number of daily newspapers, magazines and books have published Ramki’s cartoons. He draws at least 15 cartoons before going to bed every night.

A member of the Kerala Cartoons Academy, Ramki’s skills have got him the popular tag, ‘Wedding Cartoon Specialist.’

(Report by M L Narasimham for The Hindu)

Studio Suhag, Missives Show, Return of the Yogini and more..

NEWS

Studio Suhag

(A photography work at the show)

Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi presents a solo show of photography works by eminent photographer Suresh Punjabi, titled, ‘Studio Suhag’. The show is curated by Christopher Pinney and will see the launch of a book by the curator titled, ‘Artisan Camera : Studio photography from Central India’

The show presents the highlights of some 2000 or so images salvaged after the monsoon of 2010 by the visula anthropologist, Christopher Pinney in collaboration with Suresh Punjabi, the studio owner. The works on display show a glimpse into a small town Nagda, Madhya Pradesh in late 1970s, bringing forth a city in effigy in a most significant and comprehensive way through the photographs.

The show will commence on 25th September 2013 and is on view till 9th October 2013.

Contemporary Indian Sculpture

Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, presents a screening of the film, ‘Contemporary Indian Sculpture’. The film is directed by eminent director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, and will be screened at the Auditorium, Government Museum & Art Gallery. Chandigarh on 22nd of September 2013 at 5:00 pm.

The film is presented by Films Division and script is written by Pranabranjan Ray, photography by Dhrubajyoti Bose, editing by Ujjwal Nandi, music by Biswadeb Dasgupta sound by Durga Mitra and narration is by Dhritiman Chatterjee.

Missives

(A work by Ghiora Aharoni)

Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai presents a unique multi medium show by Israeli architect and designer, Ghiora Aharoni. Titled, ‘Missives’ it is an exclusive exhibition of installations, photographs, collages, and vintage phulkaris created using invaluable love letters written by his mother as an adolescent in 1950s. Through this exhibition, Ghiora explores a gamut of emotions, universal notions of desire, ritual and courtship and his family history.

The letters have been beautifully incorporated in the displayed installations and juxtaposed with vintage photographs and letters accumulated by Ghiora in India. The crumpled letters, their digitally printed and over-scaled reproductions on Japanese paper and pictures collected from India connect the emotions of his mother to a universal landscape of experience and memory. Besides pictures and installations, Missives also showcases snippets of the letters embroidered on bridal phulkaris, blended with a variety of drawings of Indian architecture, images capturing every day life of Indians and various symbols. 

Precisely, ‘Missives’ is a symbolic narrative encompassing love, yearning, history and culture curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta.  The exhibition is divided in two parts; it begins in the Industrial Arts Gallery within the Museum and continues in the Kamalnayan Bajaj Special Exhibition Galleries.

The show is on view till 17th November 2013

Return of the Yogini

(The Yogini)

National Museum, New Delhi presents a unique, first-of-its-kind event, with an exhibition centered around one item instead of a collection. The item on display is an exquisite 10th-century stone sculpture of the Yogini.

This artifact was stolen from a temple in Uttar Pradesh and was acquired by a collector in Paris for his private collection. The sculpture has only recently been donated back to India by the collector’s widow.

The exhibition will be inaugurated by Smt. Chandresh Katoch, Minister of Culture and Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs.

The Yogini sculpture is on view till 6th October 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE


And thereby hangs a tale

Hanging Terraces brings together 26 artistes and diverse thoughts and mediums

(A work at the show)

Hanging Terraces offers a world within itself — an exhibition of 26 artists from Kerala, the works range from acrylic to metal and cut-piece cloth to everyday objects. The themes are varied and yet, intrinsically linked to life and to the universe.

Hilma Hari’s pieces are found all over the gallery, crouching, peeping, sitting — silhouettes of women made from cut-piece cloth on polyfoam. They have long, wavy hair that falls by their side. Perhaps that’s why the series is called ‘Guerrilla girls revisit’. Sanal C’s oil on canvas, ‘Electrified’, has a blue man with wiry hair that’s standing at its end. The blue man could be the earth and the strands of his multi-coloured hair could be the roots that connect every being. The man’s face exudes mixed expressions of pathos and delight, indicating the confused lives we lead.

(a work at the show)

The Love Jihad could be a mythical tale, or maybe not. A lady in white, with long, curly raven hair is tuning back to look at her feet that seems to have been pricked by something. A bird with a long braid for a tail and orange wings perches on a tree nearby and watches. A man with a bull head holding a bow and arrow (with a rose at its tip) stands behind her. Cactuses fill the floor. Depiction of intense emotions, indeed! Suvitha K V revisits her childhood in ‘Pages from the past’. The painting itself appears like a worn out single-ruled notebook, with a house by a river. Another frame shows the river teaming with ducks and of course, like any child who used these notebooks, there are patterns and doodles between the lines. And a lamp in between, in no particular order, like snatches of memory.

(a work at the show)

Working with different materials are Basil Baby and Abdul Haque. Basil uses watercolour and charcoal on paper. The hair and bindi in his works are arranged around the main character like raindrops . They fall intermittently, all over the canvas, while the nearly bald man crouches on a rope.

(a work at the show)

Abdul’s installation is colourful and yet powerful. He uses polythene bags, cloth and locally collected objects to build a mountain of trash. Here, pink plastic bags shaped like grenades (though they look like large strawberries) are arranged on top. Another installation in the middle of the room is Chitra E G’s ‘Abreaction’. A metal woman, formed of fused ringlets, lies horizontally, a little above the floor and the only thing that supports her apparent levitation is her hair, which falls down to the floor. An acrylic-on-canvas nearby is Shajith R B’s After rain, which captures Kerala. The splashes of colour are a blend of yellow, green and blue in which you can trace some palm trees, shacks and a snaking stream.

Hanging Terraces is on display till September 25, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Gallery Veda, 4/22 Rutland Gate, Fifth Street, Nungambakkam,Chennai.

(Report by Anusha Parthasarathy for The Hindu)

Obituary - Remembering Chinmoy Pramanik and.. more

Obituary 

Fair Youth Beneath the Trees: Remembering Chinmoy Pramanik

JohnyML remembers departed artist Chinmoy Pramanik

`Then the sun cleared the hillock in a hurry, the warmth discovering him, the light dissuading him. But his calm, dark eyes sparkled as he summoned the neutral witness of time to pay attention to his last act as Gangiri Bhadra.''

                                                                                     -  Shoes of the Dead (Kota Neelima)

( Artist Chinmoy Pramanik)

Chinmoy Pramanik was not Gangiri Bhadra, the protagonist of Kota Neelima’s well researched novel based on the farmers’ suicide in India. But somewhere, his untimely demise brings the memories of Gangiri’s death. Gangiri fought for the rights of the farmers, whose deaths were written off as ‘natural’ ones. He had to sacrifice the welfare of his dead brother’s family and his own security for this fight. Finally, he too consumes pesticide and dies, in the process converting the village moneylenders and power mongers to a new religion called humanity. Chinmoy Pramanik did not commit suicide. He was undergoing treatment for leukaemia and when he passed away he was just thirty five years old. He was a talented sculptor; one of the artists in India who had not been affected by the illness of market boom.

As Kota Neelima observes in another part of her novel, an obituary means nothing. It does not say anything. The words remain hollow and the emotions drained. Death of a fellow being induces some kind of silence in us. We behave like rudalis. I could have avoided writing an obituary. But it is the curse of being a writer. I do not have any other device to show my grief. Hence, this obituary is an effort to look into the hollowness of my own words. Arundhati Roy, in her God of Small Things says that when a person dies, he leaves a hollow in the space in his own shape. I could see a tall, thin and smiling hollowness in the air; a smile seen through the thick beard comes out from that hollow reminding me of the Cheshire cat but devoid of its cynicism.

( Chinmoy Pramanik with his work)

I remember meeting him last at the Space Studio in Baroda. I had met him several times before that. Head hunters from the art scene had gone all over the place to track down unsuspecting but eager young artists and make them cannon fodders for the machine called art market. I heard his name for the first time from one such head hunter. I saw his works. Then I met him. He was a man with minimum words and a lot of smiles. His works were made out of small, carefully crafted wooden chips. Together they made a form, most of them looked like absent figures trying to manifest in the present. For those critics and curators who were the propagators of new urbanism and urbanology, his works were critiques of urban growth. They mockingly emulated urban growth. 

What I think today is something different. His works always grew vertically with a ridge running through its body. At Chintan Upadhyay’s now disputed Juhu apartment in Mumbai, he had kept a Chinmoy work, right there in the drawing room. During each visit I saw this work moved from one place to another; sometimes to his study room and sometimes to the bed room. The work stood silently, vertically, like a mummified form, imparting no terror but setting the visitor in a thinking mode. Chintan was behaving like a museum curator, never satisfied with the placement of the work. I remember touching the work and feeling the ups and downs. 

The last work I saw at the Space Studio in Baroda, exactly a year back, if I am not wrong, was in the shape of a coffin with his hallmark wooden chips. He was standing under a tree. He was ill, he knew and everyone near to him also knew about it. People like us got the news through the grapevine. I had generally asked about his health. He said then that he was improving. None could find any problem in his frail body as it always looked frail. Some are frail when they are in college, eating the unhealthy mess food. They regain shape or even assume new shapes when they achieve material prosperity out in the market. Chinmoy did not put on weight even after leaving Fine Arts Faculty, Baroda. He remained thin. But his eyes sparkled more than before. He was receiving the sun in his eyes. 

( Chinmoy Pramanik)

Did he know inside him about his impending death? I ask now for the simple reason that he was always making coffin like forms. The wooden chips appear before me like metastasizing germs of cancer beating his ability to fight for his life down. May be death of a young friend makes me observe things like this. It may be an illusion. Chinmoy was awarded with the Kashi Award and the IHC-Art India award in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Somehow, he could not continue the momentum of his works later due to the illness. One of his last works is a huge ear he carved out in earth. Like William Golding’s ‘Inheritors’, he too was trying to listen to the songs of the earth. He did his last act as Chinmoy Pramanik by inviting time to witness him with the ventilator in a Kolkata hospital. He did not take his sculptures or paintings with him. They will surface one day in some auction houses. Chinmoy Pramanik would live on now in figures and statistics. 

Let me kiss farewell to Chinmoy with the words of John Keats :

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
      Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
            Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve;
      She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss
            Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

NEWS

You’re Important show

( A work by Namrata Lodaya)

Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai presents a solo show of art works by artist Namrata Lodaya, titled, ‘You’re Important’. The show explores numerous themes like colourless desire, purity and innocence in mediums such as acrylic, oil, water colors on canvas.

This one of a kind exhibition gives a chance to the viewers to experience the joy of meeting his or her own self along the installation pathway created. There are seven uniquely cut-out designs highlighting every individual’s special place in the world. 

The creations stand incomplete without the involvement of the viewer and thus, the viewer is a part of the artwork. One of the installations named ‘Waiting’ is based on the journey to self realization, relating to how one generally ignores somebody who has been waiting to talk to them for a long time

The show is on view till 23rd of September 2013

Pursuit of Excellence

( A work at the show)

Third Eye Art Gallery,Bangalore presents a two person show titled, ‘Pursuit of Excellence’. 

The participating artists are Sanjoy Majumder and Sharmila Sahu. 

The artists’ styles border on abstract figurations with hints of romanticism and fantastical. The works are mostly rendered in acrylic and oils on canvas depict human forms in various dream like scenarios. In some of the works animal forms have been explored and brought together with heavy textural work giving depth to the work.

The colours are vibrant and fluid making this collection eye catching. 
The show is on view till 30th September 2013.

Subject of Death

( A work by Bhupen Khakhar)

Chemould Prescott, Mumbai presents a show as a homage to the artist Bhupen Khakhar and to the gallerist Kekoo Gandhy. 

The show is titled, ‘ Subject of Death’ and displays several paintings of Bhupen Khakhar i which he addresses his rage towards sudden mortality. Also displayed at the show are paintings on the same subject by artists, Mehlli Gobhai, Gargi Raina, Anju Dodiya and Sudhir Patwardhan among others.
The works pay homage to the legendary painter, and also to Kekoo Gandhy.

The show is on view till the 2nd of October 2013.

Sculpted Images

Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai presents a group show of sculptures by eminent artists. The show titled, ‘Sculpted Images’ displays the contemporary sculptures of eminent sculptors int he country today. The works displayed vary in mediums of the sculptures from metal like steel to fibre glass and fabric.

The participating artists are Chintan Upadhyay, El Antsui, Fariba Alam, Princess Pea, Ravinder Reddy, Sumedh Rajendran, Sunil Gawde, Tallur L N and Valay Shende.

The show is on view till the 12th of October 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

Featuring Sooni Taraporevala's photography, Girish Shahane lecture, Chandan Gomes and more..

NEWS

Elegy for the Unsung Cubicle

( Work by Chandan Gomes)

The Convention Centre of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi presents a solo show of photography by young and upcoming photography artist Chandan Gomes.

Chandan Gomes captures more than the lens can see and his work is more a representation or an anticipatory metaphor of the event. The show titled ‘Elegy for the Unsung Cubicle’, displays images of the situations Chandan has been through in an almost biographical essence. 

Chandan Gomes has also been the awardee of the Fellowship for Photography 2010, with his illuminating work.

The show is on view from the 26th of September 2013 till the 6th of October 2013.

Free Expression -  a lecture

(Girish Shahane)

Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai presents a lecture on ‘Free Expression: The Indian Context’ by eminent writer, Girish Shahane. The lecture focuses on the actual and assumed position of libertarianism  and free expression in a country like India, where history is replete with cases such as M F Hussain and more, especially in the art world. Shahane attempts to locate the discussion within a specifically Indian context, foregrounding the gap between the responses of India’s law-making apparatus to obscenity on the one hand, and political or religious offence on the other. In building his argument, Shahane refers to texts like Bharata’s Natya Shastra, the Williams Report on Obscenity and Film Censorship, and the Delhi High Court judgement in the M.F. Husain case.

Girish Shahane is an independent writer based in Mumbai. His articles on art, film and cultural politics have been published in leading newspapers and journals in India and abroad.
The lecture will be held on Saturday, 21^st September 2013, at 6: 30 pm, in the Origins of Mumbai Gallery at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum.  

Portraits of Emperors

(Rajkumar Sthabathy with his work)

Shrishti Art Gallery Hyderabad presents a solo show of art works by artist Rajkumar Sthabathy. Rajkumar’s works on display feature his intense portraiture of people. Working extensively in water colours and with a strong sense of control over the medium Rajkumar presents his new series titled, ‘Portraits of Emperors’. 

There are 53 portraits in the show and though not all of the subjects are royalty, he believes each one is an emperor in their own right. He loves the fluidity water colour offers as a medium and sees human faces resonate a similar fluidity in their lives. 

The show is on view till the 19th of September 2013.

Small is Beautiful

(Works at Tao Art Gallery)

Tao Art gallery, Mumbai presents a group show titled, ‘Small is Beautiful’. The show displays works by a mix of eminent and upcoming artists of the country along with some legendary artists. The works are a healthy mix of contemporary styles and the common feature of all the displayed works is in the small size. 

The show as the titled suggests has been specifically focused on smaller sized works. The participating artists are Akbar Padamsee, Ali Akbar Mehta, Anjolie Ela Menon, Arunanshu Chowdhury, Arzan Khambhatta, Badri Narayan, Baiju Parthan, Brinda Miller, Chinthala Jagadish, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Charan Sharma, Debashish Dutta, Debraj Goswami, Devdatta Padekar, Gourishankar Soni, Gurcharan Singh, Heeral Trivedi, Indrajit Prasad, Ingrid Pitzer, Jagdish Chander, Jaideep Mehrotra, Jayashree Patankar, Jayasri Burman, Jenny Bhatt, Jogen Chowdhury, K G Subramanyan, K S Radhakrishnan, Kalpana Shah, Kavita Jaiswal, Krishen Khanna, Nanda Das, Nayanaa Kanodia, Nimisha Sharma, Nisreen Moochhala, Paresh Maity, Prashant Salvi, Rameshwar Broota, Ravi Mandlik, Rini Dhumal, Sachin Deo, Sahil Shah, Sakti Burman, Samir Mondal, Sanjay Kumar, Seema Kohli, Shipra Bhattacharya, Shuvaprasanna, Smita Mandlik, Somenath Maity, Sudhir Patwardhan, Suhas Bahulkar, Sukhada Das, Sunil Padwal, V Ramesh, Venkatesh Pate, Vijay Shinde, Vinod Sharma and Yashwant Deshmukh.

The show is on view till the 29th of September 2013.

(News reports  by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Memoirs of a photographer

Sooni Taraporevala’s photography project ‘Parsis’, which captures facets of the Parsi community, opens in Delhi today

(Miss you Mr Spencer series, Bombay, 2013. Photo courtesy: Sooni Taraporevala)

Growing up in Mumbai in a Parsi household, Sooni Taraporevala saw her father click many pictures of their family members and would capture them in black and white images using a twin lens Rolleicord camera. Soon enough, she picked up the camera and started photography on her own.

At first she clicked all that she pleased, including members of her family, and continued to work as a professional photographer. Having spent the better part of her initial photography years in capturing images of her family, she had in her hands, a project, which just needed to be taken up formally. After her encounter with the famous photographer, late Raghubir Singh, who after seeing her work advised her to take up photographing her community, started the 36- year-old and still on-going photography project -- of capturing members of the Parsi community, named “Parsis”.

(Documenting the family: My grandfather, Bombay 1985. Photo: Sooni Taraporevala)

“(Raghubir Singh) saw amongst my eclectic collection of photographs the subject that had been staring me in the face but that I had failed to see, a photographic study of my community. What had begun nostalgically and personally, grew into a more objective project that encompassed a world larger than my immediate family”, said Sooni.

Despite popular Parsi business tycoons and Bollywood culture, knowledge of the community’s existence remains largely hidden in and around India. It was only when Sooni went away to college and started travelling around the world did she realise the dwindling numbers of her community. The statistical truth about the community’s footprint on earth spurred Sooni to capture members of the Parsi community in their true flavour, with men wearing the traditional sola topi and women in short cropped hair. This was not to portray stereotypical images but to capture them in their characteristic facets; and not to be lost in the faceless metropolitan. “Numerically we are a dying community. In the future will we still be around? I don’t know the answer to that question. Perhaps that is the reason why, despite several detours, the project I began 36 years ago is still on-going,” said Sooni.

(Report by Hansika Chopra for The Hindu)