‘Looking Glass: the Existence of Difference’ and a book launch

The new group show courtesy Religare Arts Initiative, Max Mullar Bhavan, British Council and American Centre compliments the volume ‘Voices of change: 20 Contemporary Artists’, a Marg Publication supported by Religare Arts Initiative and Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation.

Curated by Gayatri Sinha, it’s being held to coincide with the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi that just concluded. It acknowledges the present generation of Contemporary Indian artist. These include Baiju Parthan,N. Pushpamala,Jayashree Chakravarty ,Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta, Shibu Natesan, Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Surendran Nair, NN Rimzon, Anita Dube, Nataraj Sharma, Sudershan Shetty, Bose Krishnamachari, NS Harsha, Jagannath Panda, Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta, TV Santhosh, Riyas komu.

A press release elaborates: "Working in diverse media such as sculptural installation, photography, painting and large scale sculpture, we can see some outstanding examples of the work of this generation. The range of issues that they address includes the expanding city, revisitation of mythology in the context of modern India, mass construction and its effects, violence in South and Central Asia. With humour and insight, through multiple devices they address some of the complexity of our social polity.

The exhibition is supported by the British Council, which will be the site of a large sculpture by Nataraj Sharma. It is also co-partnered by the Max Mueller Bhavan where photo based works by Jitish Kallat and Baiju Parthan and Shilpa Gupta’s sculptural installation made entirely of take away soaps will be on view.

The event, as mentioned above, also mark the release of ‘Voices of Change: 20 Contemporary Artists’. The writers involved represent a newer generation of writers and critics based in India and abroad. Each essay is accompanied by an artist interview, thus documenting their concerns in a mid career practice.

Founded in September 2007, Religare Arts Initiative Limited is among India’s first corporate supported arts organizations. It strives to provide contemporary art a larger integrated voice and make art a more transparent, relevant and effective force
in the society.