Insights of Artists, Oneric House, NGMA gallery walks and more..

NEWS

Insights of Artists

( Work on display)

Unique Art gallery, Bangalore presents the show of three artists, in their show titled,‘Insights of Artists’. 

Eking out a living out of painting posters of films and banners of promotion and advertisements in a large format, the artists have struggled with changing and difficult times to keep their art works and their artistic pursuits intact and flourishing. In today’s digital printing world such artists have been pushed to the side lines of society. 

This exhibition displays works and the indomitable spirit of such artists who despite discouraging situations, manage to bring only the best of their expressions on to the canvases. The show displays works by senior artist K N Ramachandran, Wajid Sajid and Ashok Bhandari. 

The show is on till 8th of March 2014.

Oneric House

( Work by Sonia Khurana)

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, (KNMA) New Delhi presents a solo show by artist Sonia Khurana titled, ‘Oneric House/ round about midnight’. The show is curated by Roobina Karode.

Sonia Khurana has engaged with, and articulated the poetics of dwelling and dereliction for more than two decades. In Oneric House/ Round About Midnight she creates an installation that inhabits the dream house both physically and metaphorically. Using the performative mode she navigates the overlapping boundaries between the interior self and the outside world, while weaving poetic narratives and encounters with diverse people, with physical spaces and with herself. Oneric house is inhabited by a series of symbols and a seemingly disparate cast of characters: somnolescent mother, insomniac daughter, sleep-wrestlers, sleepers, slumbers and music-makers reside in metaphoric abodes that stretch across oceans and dry land.

The show is on view till 28th February 2014.

Rangon Mein

( Work by Rajesh Gawas)

Kaladalan, Pune presents a show of self taught artist, Rajesh Gawas, a software engineer by profession, with a more than keen interest in art. He started painting as a childhood hobby using watercolors. 

The artist is inspired by nature, people, myriad expressions etc. His collection includes portraitures with human expressions, landscapes, birds, flowers and more. The show is titled, ‘Rangon Mein’ which has on display the multi faceted works of this diligent artist.
With over fifty canvases on display, the show is proof of the creative pursuit of the self taught artist.

The show is on view from 28th February to 2nd March 2014.

Gallery Walks

(National Gallery of Modern Art)

The National Gallery of Modern Art, (NGMA) Bangalore is conducting art walks that will cover everything from miniature paintings and the works of old masters like Raja Ravi Varma, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, and a host of other eminent recent artists like MF Hussain, V S Gaitonde, Ram Kumar and KG Subramanyan.

This is an attempt by NGMA to promote art appreciation and Indian art and culture in people and art enthusiasts.

The walks are to be held till 26th February 2014, between 3:00- 4:00pm.

(News Reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

An Innate bond

Ramesh’s desire to paint is hard to ignore. He designs jewellery and hopes to make it to Chitra Santhe

(Ramesh began with nature paintings, but now does abstract paintings as well Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy)

It is said nobody is left alone in life. The forces that emerge to help will lead the talented into meaningful paths. Take the case of young Ramesh who only remembers being part of MILT’s Snehalaya, a destitute home where he was raised, nurtured and sent to school. Post his 10th Standard, he is now chasing his dream of being an artist. Ask him for his initials in his name, and he shrugs, “Perhaps I can be called S. Ramesh for growing up in Snehalaya or M. Ramesh for having studied at the MILT School. All I know is, my ‘home’ is my family and my guiding spirits at MILT Residential School are my parents!” says Ramesh. “I don’t miss anything as I grew up with as much good food, play and study, as with abundant love and affection,” says the practical boy, yearning to make it big in the art world.

Burning desire

The young boy’s burning desire to draw, paint, sketch and wield the brush resulting in colourful expressions is hard to ignore. At Snehalaya’s get-together he declared: “We celebrate our MILT Chairman’s birthday every year and we are encouraged to bring in our creations to exhibit them or sell them at nominal prices. When my oil-on-canvas nature’s interpretations was sold for a small amount a few years ago, it gave me an impetus to do much more. The money I got was so precious, I gave them to my family home, Snehalaya.” The glint in his eyes mirrored his pride. “If you come to my small studio on Avenue Road you can see my paintings,” he offered. Nearly 100 paintings, most of them explaining nature in different hues, occupy his tiny room where he practices in the morning. As naturescapes form much of Ramesh’s expressions, wildlife and colourful blossoms are also seen. “I took part in competitions in school. I got prizes at the Wildlife Week conducted by Regional Museum of Natural history and later at the painting contests at Shivarathreeshwara High School in Nanjangud.” When did he realise he could draw? “When I was in fourth Standard I drew a herd of elephants racing through the jungles, and later a sacred pose of Lord Eshwara. To my surprise, one of the senior MILT members had it framed and put on the wall. I felt as if I had already received an award. That was the starting point. Whatever I saw around me, I wanted to draw on paper,” recollects Ramesh, framed by umpteen sunrise portraits on the wall.
Ramesh took part in painting and athletics at school. “But I didn’t have a great hunger to study after my 10th as my paintings fetched me money and my passion became my vocation,” he says. But it was a question of time, or a process of growing up for Ramesh when he gradually veered away from nature-paintings and got himself into abstract idioms. If luck or fate did have its way for Ramesh, it was a wrong-call that connected him on phone to a jeweller. “If you are interested in jewellery design, your sketches may get you a salary,” said the philanthropist owner and that was another turning point.
“This is how God led me to my present job where I do these jewellery designs,” says Ramesh, displaying a host of his neck-wear and earring designs. But that’s not all, the young artist is all excited to teach the nuances of painting to young minds fluttering to fly into the art world.
“I couldn’t make it to Chitra Santhe this year, I want to take part with my own stall there in 2015,” says the young teenager, who has sent his paintings to the Scrutiny Committee at Chitrakala Parishath.

(Report by Rajani Govind for The Hindu)

EDITORIAL - Some Issues of In-Between Art and Some Good Humble Works of Subodh Gupta..

EDITORIAL

Some Issues of In-Between Art and Some Good Humble Works of Subodh Gupta 

(Artist Subodh Gupta)
( image courtesy: clubm.in)

I think I no longer understand art. Is it my failure or the failure of the works of art that I see these days, I ask myself. From an insider’s point of view as well as from an outsider’s point of view, I have all the reasons to believe that art has something to do with its milieu. Art need not suggest solutions but it should flag out issues. If it is not flagging out issues of the society, it should at least flag out the issues of art itself. When I look at a work of art these days my mind goes blank; it resists with all its might to respond to the works of art that it perceives because it feels that there is a fair amount of hypocrisy in these works. They try to deal with the existential takes of the artists, vis-à-vis the society that they live in but what about the works of art that come out of their engagement? They seem to be absolutely hiding things deliberately or they are trying to give some over(t) explanations so that I miss the point. The obscurantism that the artists and even the curators resort to these days seems to be putting off most of the art lovers. This must be one reason why people now would like to look at the works of the modernists with some kind of history to go with it. In the days of instant aesthetical gratification through various ways, people are attracted to high art if only it could arrest their attention and make them stand a few minutes before it. There are two extremes of viewing, as far as visual arts is concerned; at one end they want to see something substantial and thought provoking and at the other end they want to see something really spectacular. The ‘in-between-ness’ of the works of art and also of the artists seems to be the real problem these days. Neither do these works of art give something to ponder over nor do they give something really spectacular. Literature and films rule the roost mainly because, even the so called chic lit and 200 Crore club movies are able to give either something to think about or to wonder at. The bottom line is clear: invest your works of art with something that would grab the attention of the people. If not you are bound to doom.

As an art critic who is willing to degenerate into the old school at the earliest, I am willing to face criticism that it is absolutely my problem that I do not understand or I am not sensitive enough to understand the in-between kind of art that neither flags out issues nor shows any spectacular character. But unlike many people just avoid in-between kind of art, I try to stand in front of them and test my incapability and often these works win and I fail. Even when I accept that it is my incapability to comprehend new ways of thinking in visual art, I completely understand, enjoy and even think over some of the works of Subodh Gupta. His works, as all of us know, are thought provoking at times and at other times spectacular in nature. Sheer size is something that draws people to Subodh’s works quite often. They cannot escape the magnitude and magnetism of some of his works. While some other works are very small in size they do set you thinking, not only about the works themselves but about the mind of the artist that devised those pieces. I became very fascinated by two works of Subodh Gupta in his retrospective at the NGMA, New Delhi. 

( Subodh Gupta's Installation work 'Atta')
(image courtesy: huffingtopost.com)

One of them is titled ‘Atta’ (Dough) and the other one is titled, ‘Glass full of water’. Atta is a lump of dough cast in bronze and accentuated with real wheat flour. It is kept on a high table. Inconspicuous in appearance though, it evokes curiosity in a viewer. What is it all about? I need not explain how and why atta is important in Indian life (at least in North Indian life). Roti is made of atta. People toil in any city like Delhi, metaphorically speaking, for ‘do roti’ (two pieces of bread). With this simple work, Subodh captures the sociology, economics, politics, history and culture of a country; exactly the way he had done with his bronze cast of lathis, cars, bikes, milk cans and so on before launching himself to be a wholesale ‘bartan’ (steel vessels) artist.

( A Glass full of Water by Subodh Gupta)
(image courtesy:hauserwith.com)

'A glass full of water' is a glass full of water; the way a rose is a rose and if you want, is a rose. A steel tumbler is filled with water to its brim. Any disturbance could cause the water to spill. It is kept on a table. Richard Wilson’s installation with a room full of diesel would come to mind. But we could forget it because that was a spectacular work; Subodh’s is a humble one, as simple and complicated as Indian philosophy. It is an Eastern work of art, full of Zen and full of Sufi. Subodh is Subodh in these humble works. He becomes a bartan contractor in other spectacular work. But then that is an eventuality of any artist who is international by force and accent. Today even if Subodh does not want to do any bartan art, someone will keep a gun at his temple and make him to do it (incidentally, you have steel cast guns also for the feast laid out by Subodh). But my point is different. Subodh is a very contemporary artist with some amount of history with lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes. But that adds to the beauty of Subodh when he speaks from his heart; provided he is not dealing with larger issues like knowledge and availability of library in art colleges etc. Some mistakes make people beautiful; their inner truth is seen only when they are ready to err. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Our art criticism is full of divinities; they just forgive even before seeing the work of art. Digressions apart, I would say, Subodh makes a lot of sense in his small works. So my point is, it is not spectacle that makes a work of art relevant or grab er…the (eye) balls by force. But history does and even humility does.

If that is the case my degeneration also is forgivable. It is not that I do not understand the contemporary works of art. They really fail me as a viewer. They do not tell me anything. The best example I recently had was at the Mati Ghar in IGNCA, New Delhi. INSERT is one exhibition program that incorporates everything cutting edge under the sun. I went into the cave (not Plato’s) and stood in front of the displayed items there. I am afraid to call them works of art because I do not want to call a collection of sounds and documents, works of art. I would prefer to call them archives. They would then say that it is an archive. If it is so, I do not want to see a random collection of archival materials stitched around a curatorial theme. I better go to the National Archives a few paces away from the Mati Ghar. I understood one thing though. I understood from the young boys and girls standing guard to the archival materials, adequately ‘kajoled’ and ‘weeded’, and appropriately and methodically disheveled, that they understood everything that was on display there. At least they exuded such confidence that they understood. I thought, perhaps twenty years ago when I used to be disheveled (no method was needed, however I tried I looked like that only then) people might have thought the same thing about me too. I am happy to think that they ‘understood’ me then the way I understand these kids. But I have only one question to ask, why when Raqs Media collective curates something, I fail to understand it? Why do I understand them absolutely when they involve in issues like censorship, Nirbhaya and Jan Lok Pal bill etc.? Mea culpa Mea culpa Mea Maxima culpa. I take the responsibility of not understanding Raqs Media Collective as artists and curators.

To sum it up, I would say, “Mere pyaare behenon aur bhaaiyon” (My dear brothers and sisters, in Narendra Modi’s tone, to be a bit politically incorrect), do works of art that engage people with thoughts and forms. Don’t make dead bodies to hang up on the walls and from ceilings. You can’t pickle these dead bodies in any curatorial formaldehyde which would obviously look like a dead show as in Sacred/Scared at Latitude 28, curated by Nancy Adajania. There are a couple of master word players who have exhausted themselves by now; Bose Krishnamachari and Valsan Koorma Kolleri. Adajania does not reach anywhere near them in word play for at least titles. When I reach Exhibit 320, I see a set of good paper installations by Sachin George Sebastian. But I wonder why all those small little human figures cut out of newspapers. That makes the show a bit ‘forcefully’ intellectual. Sachin, you are a good paper engineer, believe in it and work on. Last not but the least, one question to my gallerists in Delhi and elsewhere, do you really understand what you exhibit and sell? I know that you sell only what you understand.

Johny ML

NEWS

Parikrama : Around Gandhi

Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi presents a solo show of renowned artist S H Raza, titled, ‘Parikrama : Around Gandhi’. Raza saw Mahatma Gandhi in a public meeting in Mandla, his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, when he was 8 years old. This ‘darshan’ left an indelible mark on him. Whenever he visited Delhi from Paris between 1950 and 2010, Raza visited Rajghat to pay respect to the great soul at his samadhi. He has always been inspired by Gandhian deeds, concepts and words.

Since his return to Delhi, Raza has been working on a series inspired by the teachings of Gandhi. He explores them in his own inimitable style without falling into traps of representation or illustration. They are tributes to a great human being by a master of our times.

The show previews on 21st February 2014 at 6:00 pm and is on view till 26th March 2014.

7 Horses

( Work by Nayanjeet Nikam)

Pradarshak Art Gallery, Mumbai presents a solo show of paintings by artist Nayanjeet Nikam. The show titled, ‘7 Horses’ depicts the seven inherent qualities of the animal which the artist sees reflected in human beings.

Horses have had a strong bearing on him from the very beginning and have trained his artistic thoughts. Nayanjeet elaborates on his muse, “Horses commit to memory, people and the events of the past by heart, and have no anxiety of the future; they simply survive in constant awareness and have amazing instinct. I had to toil hard and face challenges to be in the present moment—horses gave birth to my approach of unbreakable faith in my style of painting and have influenced my technique considerably.”

Not merely depicting the pictorial aspects of an equestrian muse, the artist has tried to capture the vigour, supremacy and momentum of the animal in his paintings. The show is on till 1st March 2014.

Artistic recalls

Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, New Delhi presents “Artistic Recalls – The Hungarian Connection: Amrita” a group art exhibition that will be showcasing various paintings by Hungarian, German, Indian and also Swedish artists who participated at the art residency program at the Prazanta – The Tranquil Resort in Kerala.

This exhibition is to mark the birth centenary of the legendary Amrita Shergill and some of the artists whose works are on display are Imre Szakács, Ilona Deák, Tibor Bráda, Monika Elisabeth Siebmanns, Karin Margareta Holgersson Schuff, Heinz-Jürgen Meyer, Seema Moghe and few others.

The show is on view till 28th February 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

EDITORIAL - India Art Fair : Re-inventing or Re-invented?.. and more

EDITORIAL

India Art Fair: Re-inventing or Re-invented?

Sixth edition of India Art Fair is now officially over. The ripples that it has created will remain for a while in the social networking sites for a few more days. General euphoria and happy faces that one could see at the NSIC Grounds in Delhi and in the photographs seen in the Facebook indicate a happy future for the art scene. No official sales index has been released yet. However, if human faces are the reflection of the hearts of people, then we should be assured that everything is fine with Indian art scene. Freeloaders and party hoppers always keep a happy face for the flashlights but that is another thing. If one asks for the general trend shown by the IAF, I could say that established names still rule the market. That means no space for surprises. Predictable is the word that could put the sixth edition of the IAF in a nutshell. Some people say that it is a new beginning for the IAF and some others say that it is the beginning of an end. Cynical they may be, but they insist that the IAF needs to re-invent itself.

How could the IAF reinvent itself, by cutting down the number of galleries or implementing quality control? If so, with this edition the IAF has already re-invented itself. The number of galleries is less compared to last year, though the reduction is less than ten. Quality has increased as each work is given enough room for a decent viewing. Hence, the suggestion to re-invent could be ruled out. That means, the IAF is going to be there in the coming years, once in a while throwing some surprises at the viewer and at other times, just being there as an annual event, a post-capitalist cultural ritual of India. If the participating galleries both from India and abroad are happy about the proceedings, better the viewers leave cynicism and complaints behind. Just experience it and move ahead. 

(India Art Fair 2014)

Personally speaking, I am not disappointed by the IAF because I have finally come to a conclusion that the IAF is an international business platform for art. If it is an auto expo, none asks how many cars Hyundai or Bentley or Maruti-Suzuki sold from the venue. If it is national plastic expo, none asks how many buckets and mugs that got sold from there. We need to learn from other industrial expos. Art Fairs are business platforms to attract the buyers, generate interest and forge connections, exchange ideas and strategies against the backdrop of a general festive mood. If one understands this then there is no room for complaint. The works of art displayed at the venue establish this context and an art fair can happen only against works of art; good, bad or ugly.

(India Art Fair 2014)

It is said that international galleries are disappointed because the Indian audience or buyers are just not interested in the works of their artists. It cannot be false. In a market which is predominantly driven by Indian investors marked with this indelible sense of nationalism, a foreign artist who comes from a country with an exhausted market does not hold much charm. If one asks then why the foreign collectors should take interest in Indian artists, the answer is that Indian market is a surging market and has all the capabilities to boom not only once again but several times. In these growing markets, irrespective of nationalities people invest money. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other South East Asian countries become important in this context. Foreign galleries cannot complain. The future leaders of this country say that they are all set to beat China in terms of production and market. So the future is here.

( Absolut Kapoor - Work by Anish Kapoor)

Now, about the art that you have just seen at the IAF. A majority of the works of art is created keeping the IAF in mind. But as there has been not enough money in the market for the last few years, even the biggest experiments look like less of its expected sheen. Absolut Anish Kapoor-predictable. Subodh Gupta- predictable. Abhay Maskara Gallery-predictable (minus Shine Sivan’s wig and overt pornography of T.Venkanna), Chemould Gallery-predictable, Vadehra- predictable, Sakshi-predictable and everything and everyone else predictable. Even the viewers’ behaviour is predictable. Socialize till you drop dead; that is the motto. The sculpture courtyard has predictable works. Anindita Dutta has created a clay structure. It reminds one of Subodh Gupta’s first site-specific installations. Chintan Upadhyay admits that his sculpture is ‘yet another effort to show it to the people’. Debanjan Roy has left Gandhiji behind for good. But his motor tyre and tube based nature-scape looks a bit tired. Paresh Maity’s avatar as sculptor has made him look like a tribal artist in a fancy dress. Pretension has no limit when it comes to Riyas Komu’s installation. That comes under a booth called ‘collectors corner’. I do not know which collector has a 250 square feet of space to waste to keep a junk like that in an upmarket household. If it is meant for a museum, I wish them all good. But above all, it is an advertisement even for the artist. 

(Work by Chintan Upadhyay)

Sorry, I could not see all the works in detail. It is like Damien Hirst’s path breaking work’s title: The impossibility of death in the mind of someone living. True, but confusing. Works are there, but you cannot see all of them. However, one cannot be left unimpressed by the third hall where two major galleries in Delhi, Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) and Dhoomimal Art Gallery (DAG) show the richness of their armoury to give a tough fight to the trendy galleries elsewhere. They show their real tanks and cannon balls and the other galleries show their simulated wars in video games. The last laugh belongs to the galleries in the third hall. Rest of them could laugh and smile while most of them could conceptually blow their noses and wipe their tears with imported tissue papers. 

My observations are strictly personal therefore partial. I have some good words to spare for a lot of young artists who are first timers in the IAF. I reserve them for future use. I am sure there are many who have a different idea about the recently concluded India Art Fair. I would be happy to read more of those lines in the coming days. 

JohnyML

(All images have been taken from the net and are for illustrative purposes only)

NEWS

HA Gade Retrospective

(Work by HA Gade)

DMG Mega Art Complex and Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi with the legacy of 70 years in Indian contemporary art  presents ‘A Retrospective of H.A. Gade’. 

H A Gade is remembered as India’s one of the pioneer independent expressionist painter. Like all the painters of the Progressive Artists Group, Gade revolted against the traditions of academic art, which the British education system had clamped on Indian art education. He believed in an unconventional and dynamic artistic style. 

He had a commendable intuitive understanding of the pictorial dimensions of color, and as often referred as a painters' painter.

The show is on view till 10th February 2014.

Unknown Journey

( Work on display)

Korean Cultural Centre India, New Delhi presents the art exhibition titled,’Unknown Journey’ curated by Insang Song. The artworks on display are by Mahaveer Swami from India and Park Sung Yu from Korea who are pursuing the art of today based on the traditional art technique and with the spirit of each country as per their experiences.

The show is on view till 28th February 2014.

The Passionate Quest

( Work on display)

National Gallery Of Modern Art, (NGMA) New Delhi presents a show for all art lovers, an exclusive art collection by eminent Indian woman painter Amrita Shergill. Titled as ‘The Passionate Quest’, the artworks by the artist depict life in Paris, nude studies, still life studies and portraits of friends and fellow students. 

The artist is recognized as the youngest and only Asian artist to be elected as an Associate of the Grand Salon, Paris. Also known by her another name - India’s Frida Kahlo, the artist drew her influence by the impressionists. Her works are a depiction of the beauty and brilliance she possessed. 

The show is on view till 28th February 2014.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)