Two significant shows of Indian art at Aicon

Two significant art shows at Aicon Gallery in their New York and London premises feature interesting themes.

The NY group show features works by Jaishri Abichandani, Shelly Bahl, Ruby Chishti, Mike Estabrook, Iqbal, Naeem Mohaiemen, Sandeep Mukherjee, Nitin Mukul, Anjali Srinivasan, and Chitra Ganesh among others. Through diverse mediums, they examine the conceptions and expectations of reality each with their own unique interpretation.

The participating artists here explore the idea of memory as a continuous and multi- faceted representation in a constant state of flux. What emerges is a kind of objectivity that rests less upon tangible reference points, but rather associative recollections. Whether appropriated and reconfigured from popular sources, or registered as pigment on a surface, the works explore the crafting of reality, and how memory serves us.

‘Malleable Memory’, curated by Nitin Mukul, prompts us to embrace our inherently subjective interpretations of both personal and collective histories through the evolving and illusive device of memory. The idea is to inform our understanding of ourselves, our pasts and our futures. On the other hand, their London show is entitled ‘Dali's Elephant’.

It features works by Sakti Burman, Jogen Chowdhury, Manjit Bawa, K. Laxma Goud, Rekha Rodwittya, Prasanta Sahu, Avishek Sen, and Suneel Mamadapur that trace the echoes of Surrealism in modern and contemporary art from the Indian Subcontinent. Explaining the origin of the show, an exhibition note reveals, “Air India commissioned Salvador Dali to produce a limited edition ashtray which was to be given to a select group of lucky first-class passengers in 1967.

"He produced a small unglazed porcelain ashtray composed of a shell-shaped center with a serpent around its perimeter. This was supported by three stands, two of which point in the same direction and resemble an elephant's head. The third stand was inverted so that it resembled swan's head. The painter was initially paid no more than a few hundred dollars for his design but when they received the design the airline bosses were so delighted that they made him the surprise gift of an elephant. This episode is one of the few concrete encounters recorded between Surrealism and
India.”