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.”

How Vivek Vilasini approaches the notion of creating micro-worlds?

New Delhi based Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre presented an interesting group show of five contemporary artists, entitled ‘Surviving Sagas’ earlier this month – courtesy Ashna Gallery. Though the styles differ considerably, as in an aesthetic bouquet, when put together, they establish the areas of convergence of their concerned themes, which could create a macro narrative, in a way justifying the title of the show. Here is the gallery note on Vivek Vilasini:

The talented artist approaches the notion of creating micro-worlds as a form of cultural resistance through the revocation of old scripts on his painterly surface. These surfaces with fluorescent paints literally re-script the divested scripts from the language of Malayalam. He calls it as the ‘Glyphs in Tales’. These letters are the results of certain innovative minds who dared the hegemonic scriptural practices in the realm of publishing both in book form and in web form.

The script that the artist uses comes from the font set named Rachana, which literally meaning ‘writing’. By placing the script of a local language, which has lesser possibilities to capture the attention of the world, as a cultural symbol in order to oppose the hegemonic texts and their veracity, Vivek Vilasini imparts the idea of a micro structure that could challenge the predominant knowledge systems and historiography through the production of alternative knowledge systems and historiography through the implementation of a revised font set for the desk top as well as web publishing.

By investing the scripts with a new power and presence, he makes them the participants in a pageant or carnival where multi-cultural ideas are propagated in multi-linguistic modes. This is a world that the artist aspires to establish where parallel histories, subversive histories and the fringe histories get a say against and in relation with the hegemonic acts of making scriptures and cannons for the contemporary life.

In his digital images, one can find the linkages between his varied visual practices. He creates the tableaux of dominant images from art history by incorporating a new set of actors in completely local garbs. The same approach is visible in the production of micro worlds using script as bricks and mortar.

(Information courtesy: courtesy Ashna Gallery, New Delhi)

Contrasting manifestations of internal artistic realms

New Delhi based Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre presented an interesting group show, entitled ‘Surviving Sagas’ earlier this month – courtesy Ashna Gallery. Here is the gallery note on artists Gopinath and Murali Cheeroth.

In Gopinath we see a beautiful convergence of existential angst of contemporary man as well as his alerted political awareness. His sculptures emulate small little worlds where human beings build up their dream existences. He has a special way of emulating the classical sculptures in a contemporary medium of fiberglass and giving a meaningful twist by incorporating abstract and surreal figurative values to them. In this show, The artist thinks more towards generating a discourse based on the intellectual existence vis-à-vis his responses to the world ridden with violence and strife.

On the other hand, in Murali Cheeroth’s works what you witness is the manifestation of such internal worlds, which the artist very skillfully presents with all the paraphernalia of the outer world of reality. Murali subscribes to the images from daily life, as seen in city squares and construction sites. For him, city is like a language with an ever changing structure. The flux of structure is always tested against the imaginary structures that the artist creates within his inner world. Hence, the architectural images and the images of construction sites that we see in his works are not the images from an actual world. They are constructed realities within the artist’s mind.

Seen against an industrial landscape, he introduces an interface between two mechanisms; one the brutal force of an earthmover that helps in clearing the spaces for further constructions and the dead weight of a disused car, almost hung in the middle of the air. This world of spectacle that the artist deliberately creates moves between the real ‘real’ and the imagined ‘real’. Discounting people from the scenario of a spectacular drama is an artistic ploy that he uses to collapse the boundaries of two worlds.

By creating a world that looks almost similar to the hegemonic world, Murali Cheeroth incepts the idea of resistance within the system of powers. The lonely deer that strays into a suburban landscape becomes a powerful imagery as seen contrasted with the image of the radar that captures the frequencies of dreams.

(Information courtesy: Ashna Gallery, New Delhi)

Binoy Varghese explores the world of imposed innocence

New Delhi based Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre presented an interesting group show, entitled ‘Surviving Sagas’ earlier this month – courtesy Ashna Gallery. It featured works by five leading contemporary artists, namely George Martin, Murali Cheeroth, Binoy Varghese, Vivek Vilasini and S Gopinath.

An elaborate note on them brought out the nuances of their respective art practice and work. They are artists with different stylistic approaches, albeit all sharing a keen interest in the contemporary human beings’ materialistic and existential issues. They together explored the aspects of survival against the backdrop of the socio-economic and cultural anchoring of people to see how their survival is made possible by creating micro narratives out of their own lives. Here is what the gallery mentions of artist Binoy Varghese and his practice:

His artistic realm is full of micro-narratives of those disposed and dispossessed by a system of knowledge and power. He captures the faces of so many children in various garbs and places them against the most beautiful foliages and flowers. With a lot of happiness and verve these figures look at the viewer as if they were caught in a bubble of eternal innocence. Positing, someone into the state of eternal innocence is an exercise of ideological power that often we see both in the public and domestic realms.

His idea is to ‘re-present’ this innocence and engage the viewer to decode the secrets of their innocence. Binoy has been employing this method of representation for a long time and he uses this special way of juxtaposing the image of an innocent child against a backdrop, which is not so ‘natural’ to him/her. As a humanitarian artist, he puts forward a subtle critique on the system that produces such dispossessed children.

Of late, the artist has been attending to the issues of religious dispossession that has become a common characteristic of our much acclaimed democratic society. He stands up for their dignity by repeatedly painting their small little worlds.

(Information courtesy: Ashna Gallery, New Delhi)

London based Grosvenor Vadehra presents‘The Indian (Sub)Way’

London based Grosvenor Vadehra presents a group exhibition, entitled ‘The Indian (Sub)Way’. The show curated by art critic and curator Yashodhara Dalmia highlights the ‘Indian Way’.

The participating artists are Atul Bhalla, Anita Dube, Anandjit Ray, GR Iranna, Gargi Raina, Gigi Scaria, Jagannath Panda, Manjunath Kamath, Mithu Sen, Nataraj Sharma, Probir Gupta, Ravinder Reddy, Riyas Komu, Shibu Natesan, Sudhanshu Sutar, Sujit SN, Sunoj D, and TV Santhosh. It comprises paintings, photographs, digital works and installations by these contemporary artists that articulate their experiences of living in present times in a forthright manner.

Ravinder Reddy's sensuous head - both iconic in its gaze and yet punctuated by hubris - characterizes the undercurrents of this event. The large digital work by artist Gigi Scaria refers the metropolis with its ever-growing business districts and pleasure zones in a humorous yet poignant vein. The high-rise buildings, however, rest on either side of a damaged flyover with traffic smoothly flowing below, building a dramatic interface.

The participating artists invent devices that hone in on the glaring contradictions of a country that despite its problematics is surging ahead on a curvilinear highway. An accompanying note asks: “The traditional way of being, formal yet feisty, altered with the modernization process which gained pace after India's independence. In recent decades the high-tech onslaught brought about by globalisation has introduced sweeping changes within cities and has not left villages untouched. The uneven form of development creates bizarre, somewhat comic situations where an eclectic internationalism jostles with the local, even archaic modes. The artists seem to ask 'Where indeed is the 'Indian Way' heading?'

“While the relatively stable economic situation has brought the country into international focus, its weak infrastructure, glaring gaps between wealth and poverty and the failure of governance are the flip side of this progress. The contemporary Indian artists scan with an ironical eye, the new glittering towers and glitzy malls conjuncted with the slums, cesspools and other detritus of existence. The extreme well being and cringing deprivations now largely provide the binaries of existence.”

South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art auction by Christie’s

Over 100 works of art by modern masters like F N Souza, MF Husain and alongside several big names in contemporary Indian art, including Subodh Gupta, Atul Dodiya and Rashid Rana will feature in a sale later this month.

The sales are expected to realize a sum well in excess of $10 million. Christie’s much awaited South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art auction on 15 September comprise these carefully chosen works from top 20th and 21st century artists from South Asia. For example, there is Raza’s ‘La Terre’ (1985) (estimated value: $2,000,000-2,500,000) that leads the sale.

It’s a masterpiece from a key period in his career that integrates vital elements of the artist’s Indian heritage. Another highlight of the sales is Souza’s Untitled work (Large Head) from 1962 (estimated value: $1,200,000-1,800,000). The visionary head denotes Souza at his creative best; it’s comprised of fantastical organic as well as mechanical elements such as parts in a clock.

Husain’s Untitled work (sitar player at estimated value of $350,000-500,000) reflects the inspiration he draws from the intriguing inter-disciplinary nature of dance, painting, film, music, and sculpture. The work depicts his masterly synthesis of a very Indian subject into a modern artistic idiom.

The auction will feature a wide selection of contemporary artworks from the region. Subodh Gupta’s ‘Two Cows’ (estimated value: $280,000-350,000) is another highlight in the sale. In this work, the artist combines day-to-day utilities familiar to both urban and rural echelons of our society. The simple bicycle and Stainless steel containers are ubiquitous objects that epitomize his ability to find irony and tension in the mundane.

His another featured work is ‘Densely Packed’, 2004 (estimated value: $250,000-300,000)in which he documents the daily scene of the bazaars through a quasi-photo realistic rendition of a ubiquitous vessel stall, deftly recasting an ensemble of Indian culture’s traditional objects. Then there is Atul Dodiya’s ‘Kalki’, 2002 (estimated value: $180,000-250,000)apart from other significant works by Anju Dodiya, Manjit Bawa, etc.

Art shows on the eve of Commonwealth games

A s Delhi prepares for the Commonwealth Games, the city art galleries are trying to tune up for this mega sports event. While most of them are planning to showcase the country’s cultural heritage, there are some others who will highlight the contemporary art.

Gallery Ragini is presenting a show, entitled ‘Creating Commonwealth’. It’s inspired by the Games, and refers to the British influence visible in our life. The gallery owner, Nidhi Jain, has been quoted as saying in a Hindustan Times new report by Aakriti Sawhney:

“The British Raj has left an imperial legacy behind, which is reflected in our history, culture and of course, art. That is the main focus of our exhibit. We have 30 contemporary artists, presenting a range of art work from digital to canvas, sculptures and art installations. We even have international artists from different Commonwealth countries, facilitating an understanding and experience of how the imperial rule affected societies.”

Religare Art Gallery will come up with an exhibit ‘Looking Glass — The Existence of difference’. It features leading contemporary Indian artists. Mukesh Panika, Religare Arts Initiative director, explains that it’s a project to mark three major events — an exhibit, an international seminar on the theme ‘Art Practices in an Age of Cultural Relativism’ plus book launch. Through the show, the gallery is projecting the works of contemporary artists to the outside world on the eve of Commonwealth Games.

Rupika Chawla presents a conceptual show, called ‘Art celebrates! 2010’, at Lalit Kala Akademi. It brings together 12 galleries from the city. This show focuses on sports and their relevance in the miniature paintings and contemporary works. Among the participating galleries are Gallery Espace and Art Alive.

Other shows to watch out for as reported by HT are:

Double whammy: An exhibition of contemporary photography
Fluid forms: A solo exhibit by fine art photographer Farah Ahmed
Duality: The show is replete with images that defy conventional landscape photography.