Artists who form part of ‘Morning At The Window’

A new exhibition, entitled ‘Morning At The Window’ on view at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Mumbai is a crisp commentary on the deep complexities, both social and physical, of the teeming city – not a city in particular, but any ubiquitous city. Though all the participating artists belong to India, the breadth of the viewing experience expands far beyond Mumbai’s sandy beaches to explore elements inherent to the very concept of the City and its core.

A curatorial note by Jasmine Wahi from New York elaborates: “It seems too often shows that feature Indian artists are discussed only within the context of the native country, or Indian culture. On the other hand, the works in this show expose the multitude of complexities, controversies, and inconsistencies found in all cities by reconstructing traditional and formalist ideas.

Moving beyond the concrete traits of the city, ‘Morning At The Window’ looks at the main thing that truly defines the city; the people, both the physical presence of bodies and the social spaces that they interact in. It's not simply an homage to the idea of the city and urban space, but an observation of those elements that are intrinsically linked to urban environments. Through manipulations of color, texture, and content each work speaks to a universal understanding of the anonymous city as an entity.

Each of the multi-layered paintings by artist Sheetal Gattani seemingly represent dwelling walls – an apt motif of decay one invariably finds in cities with rather grand histories of both change and re-invention. Her deft manipulation of layered paint as well as texture further drive and derive the sense of urban grit & grime through astute interplay of light-and-shadow. Even works with strong contrast like the painting of stark green & gray overtaking her canvas, are layered with multiple colors and tones, scratched, and re-layered for invoking this touch of drabness yet beauty, which is a unique aspect of her practice.

The conglomeration of ubiquitous objects and images – bicycles, bottles, hangers, mesh cages, chairs and squiggles – in Buddhadev Mukherjee’s work tends to echo a chaotic consumerism often found in areas of fast pace and high energy. Prasanata Bandyopadhyay is a figurative artist who expands upon the city dweller’s psyche in. Rajesh Kargutkar’s works gloss over the more nuanced and sometimes unpleasant aspects one finds in the city to depict only the essential cramming and layering of space within the urban environ.

(Information courtesy: Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke)