Two interesting showcases of Indian art

About eight years ago, Aroon Shivdasani helmed the debut contemporary art event of the New York-based Indo-American Arts Council. It focused solely on paintings. The latest collection of artworks of Indian Diaspora artists, entitled, ‘Erasing Borders: Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora’, now includes an array of mediums including sculpture, installation art, and video.

All 43 participating artists are connected to South Asia chosen on basis of a meticulous and a lot more inclusive selection process, spreading it to the entire subcontinent. The organizers reveal that earlier artists would send works believing the idea was to trace their roots. However, increasingly, you realize ‘people are people’ –more so since so many of them have spent life in their adopted lands. Their art may also be a part of their life today. It’s an event that alludes to the ‘straddling art of the Indian Diaspora’.

On the other hand, a new series of works, entitled ‘Lonely Furrow’ that Shambhavi Singh has created during her residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute carries on with her sole focus and concern on rural workers. Through motifs that symbolize common tools used by land laborers, she expresses her concern for those oft-marginalized, to capture their strength and spirit.

Her work invariably reminds us of our connection with the land and with one another, at a broader level. The root of her works is well grounded in her humble native land of Bihar. Her oeuvre includes paintings, sculptures and installations. It explores her concerns for the displaced.

STPI was established in 2002 under the guidance of the foremost American master printer of the 20th century, Kenneth E. Tyler to publish major works by prominent international artists such as Josef Albers, Anthony Caro, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella and Donald Sultan. Through its Visiting Artists Programme (VAP), STPI has collaborated with leading artists from across the world.