Saturday, November 12, 2011

Solo of artist-activist Tushar Joag

Tushar Joag's current body of work on view at New Delhi-based Vadehra Art Gallery is a continuation of his 2010 project 'Riding Rocinante', wherein he took his 350-cc Enfield Bullet (with a sidecar) from the city of Mumbai to Shanghai, traveling across India, Nepal and finally China.

In this exhibition, he mediates between figures of the Buddha, Don Quixote and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Riding Rocinante was a adventurous performative art project undertaken by Tushar Joag – a journey through Sardar Sarovar and also the Three Gorges upon on a motorcycle. He named it ‘Rocinante’ after Don Quixote’s infamous horse.

He left Mumbai on August 23 last year and reached Shanghai more than a month late0. Chinese monks like Xuanzang, Fa Hein have visited India with the aim of learning from the Buddhist masters. The journey Prince Siddharth Gautama took through Kapilavastu (on his horse Kanthaka) after he saw the four sights that changed his whole outlook towards life. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s long youthful adventure on his motorcycle (La Poderosa II) round Latin America was a step towards actualizing the revolutionary in him.

Tushar Joag's journey has marked references to these sojourns and many such travels undertaken by legendary figures – that changed the course of their celebrated lives. For him, the journey is perhaps even more Quixotic than heroic – one towards his own self. It’s a sort of cross-cultural curatorial experiment. The project formed part of ‘Place Time Play - India-China Contemporary Art Exhibition’ for West Heavens Project of China Academy of Art & Hanart TZ Gallery.

Born in 1966, Tushar Joag did his Bachelor's degree (sculpture) from the Sir J.J. school of art, Mumbai in 1988 and completed his Masters from the Faculty of Fine Art, M.S. University, Baroda. He served a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam from 1998 to 2000. A co-founder of the artist's initiative Open Circle, he has participated in several national and international shows.

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