Talented contemporary artist Pooja Iranna has been referencing and deciphering the manmade structures close to two decades. Revealing her artistic inclinations, she has said: “I usually travel to places to take these images. I seldom take images at random, and rather visualize how a particular frame would be used before I click. These are then worked upon on the computer to impart them with unique visual idiom. My watercolors revolve around the same vocabulary.
“There is an intermingling of nature and manmade structures to create spaces. These represent strength of structure on the surface and vigor of human convictions at the subconscious level. One has to imbibe a lot in order to pour back and each time I feel that I’ve said enough, some moving experience excites me to give back something new to myself and the world.”
Having grown up in the heart of a teeming metropolis during her formative years, she never realized how the surroundings were pervading her thought processes and turned the prime medium of her visual expression. To begin with, she underlined the chaos of urban life, metaphorically addressing both the fragility and beauty of human relationships. She explored her artistic space and surface, to employ a wide array of mediums on paper.
Over time, the artist has reverted to two different techniques – photography and watercolor paintings. The former lets her capture reality instantly to further enhance it with her own expression, whereas watercolors help use her senses to the best of her artistic ability. In building her photographical works the subject that excites her is architecture - old and new.
There is no medium she does not wish to explore at this point but the magnificence of the work can only be understood when one looks at the original work. This is what makes her art practice stand out…
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Kirsty Ogg and The Whitechapel Gallery
The Whitechapel Art Gallery, founded in the year 1901, brings some truly great art to keen art lovers. Internationally known for its eclectic exhibitions of modern and contemporary art and its pioneering education and public events programs, the gallery has premiered several international artists, such as Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Nan Goldin, and Jackson Pollock, apart from providing a significant showcase for some of the UK’s most significant artists from Gilbert & George to Peter Doig, Mark Wallinger and Lucian Freud.
The Gallery plays a major role in the capital’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of East London as the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter.The Grade II* Whitechapel Gallery premises was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend.
This purpose built avenue is an ideal example of the Arts & Crafts movement and its latent aspiration of being accessible. This development builds on the 1980s expansion undertaken by Colquhoun and Miller under Sir Nicolas Serota’s directorship.
Kirsty Ogg, a renowned curator based in London, is closely associated with The Whitechapel Art Gallery. She is Director of ATP London and is the former Director of The Showroom (London). She was part of The Art Expo India the year 2009 where in conversation with Abhay Sardesai, she spoke about Indian Art in an international prospective. She had then stated in an interview:
"Over the last eight years, the representation of Indian art has been gaining on the international art scene. And not just on a commercial level. Artists have been appearing in exhibitions and events like Documenta and the Venice. So there's a high visibility and awareness about Indian art. What's interesting is that there are two sides to it (Indian art)-in terms of the form of the work that can slip into circulation on the international art scene and the context that has an Indian texture."
The Gallery plays a major role in the capital’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of East London as the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter.The Grade II* Whitechapel Gallery premises was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend.
This purpose built avenue is an ideal example of the Arts & Crafts movement and its latent aspiration of being accessible. This development builds on the 1980s expansion undertaken by Colquhoun and Miller under Sir Nicolas Serota’s directorship.
Kirsty Ogg, a renowned curator based in London, is closely associated with The Whitechapel Art Gallery. She is Director of ATP London and is the former Director of The Showroom (London). She was part of The Art Expo India the year 2009 where in conversation with Abhay Sardesai, she spoke about Indian Art in an international prospective. She had then stated in an interview:
"Over the last eight years, the representation of Indian art has been gaining on the international art scene. And not just on a commercial level. Artists have been appearing in exhibitions and events like Documenta and the Venice. So there's a high visibility and awareness about Indian art. What's interesting is that there are two sides to it (Indian art)-in terms of the form of the work that can slip into circulation on the international art scene and the context that has an Indian texture."
Monday, August 8, 2011
Baiju Parthan's awe-inspiring artistic scope
Trained in diverse streams like botany, painting, illustration, engineering, computer science, and even comparative mythology, Baiju Parthan's awe-inspiring artistic scope inhabits multi-faceted realms. He has deftly created a unique vocabulary based on the intriguing usage of symbols and archaic imagery.
A Postgraduate Diploma in comparative mythology and hid degree in botany provide ample hint of his inquisitive mind. These diverse elements inform his thoughtful work that all retain a cohesive almost narrative touch in spite of their disparate origins.
He has stated: “The different themes or subjects I have studied at various points in my life are out of the need understand why I am I here, and what I am doing. And as such they have become part of my life and my art. I think those things have become lens through which I look at reality and that gets reflected in my art quite naturally. At least, it appears natural to me.”
Baiju Parthan's work tries to seek existential reconciliation with the perceived intangibility of the intriguing information age. His practice essentially revolves around the omnipresent theme of the intersection between the areas of collective imagination, the material world, as well as the non-material digital sphere. He constructs highly compelling mythic imagery mostly in black, with shades of blues and greens. The parchment brown background creates an illusion of some secretive magical cult’s medieval manuscript.
According to the artist, with the photograph gradually turning into a virtual entity, the physicality of painting has become more attractive to him as an artist. He adds, “I feel the physicality of the painted image is becoming an important or the only counterpoint to the fact that the photograph of today (our primary source of images) is a virtual object captured on a digital camera and uploaded onto an online album or to a hard disc where it lives as bits and bytes, till invoked onto a computer screen."
A Postgraduate Diploma in comparative mythology and hid degree in botany provide ample hint of his inquisitive mind. These diverse elements inform his thoughtful work that all retain a cohesive almost narrative touch in spite of their disparate origins.
He has stated: “The different themes or subjects I have studied at various points in my life are out of the need understand why I am I here, and what I am doing. And as such they have become part of my life and my art. I think those things have become lens through which I look at reality and that gets reflected in my art quite naturally. At least, it appears natural to me.”
Baiju Parthan's work tries to seek existential reconciliation with the perceived intangibility of the intriguing information age. His practice essentially revolves around the omnipresent theme of the intersection between the areas of collective imagination, the material world, as well as the non-material digital sphere. He constructs highly compelling mythic imagery mostly in black, with shades of blues and greens. The parchment brown background creates an illusion of some secretive magical cult’s medieval manuscript.
According to the artist, with the photograph gradually turning into a virtual entity, the physicality of painting has become more attractive to him as an artist. He adds, “I feel the physicality of the painted image is becoming an important or the only counterpoint to the fact that the photograph of today (our primary source of images) is a virtual object captured on a digital camera and uploaded onto an online album or to a hard disc where it lives as bits and bytes, till invoked onto a computer screen."
‘Dislocation: Milljunction Part 2’
'Dislocation: Milljunction Part 2' by Baiju Parthan takes place at Aicon Gallery, London.
The artist states in his accompanying note: “Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city, consists of a floating population, of immigrants from various parts of the country. Each one of these communities and individuals has their own version of Mumbai as their recollection of getting to know and comprehend Mumbai. The most homogeneous/coherent recollection of Mumbai I have heard is of Bombay as a city of textile mills. During British raj it was called the Manchester of the east because of the textile mills.
The typical Bombay chawl culture and the resulting ethos which get depicted as the Bombay in Bollywood movies belongs to this era of textile mills. (Chawls are one room tenement apartments with a common toilet where the mill workers used to live.) I have chosen to look at the vestiges the fast disappearing mill presence through a handful of icons.
The old fiat taxis which are being phased out, the chawl building where workers used to live, and also the man on the street , mostly the laborer as a vestige of the Mill presence. How the familiar is erased all the time to make way for the new. At the same time it is not nostalgia, but is a lament. Then in 1982 there was a major mill strike and the mills shut down one by one. Today the mill sites and the chawls are being developed into premium residential towers.
Baiju Parthan is especially interested in the influence of technology on religious beliefs, the implications of genetic engineering, and the possibilities of post-humanism (i.e. the development of symbiotic relations between men and machines). He secured his BFA from the Mumbai University, and has hence held successful solo exhibitions in Mumbai, New Delhi and Goa. He has also participated in major group shows in Calcutta, Mumbai, New York and other centers.
(Information courtesy: Aicon Gallery, London)
Sunday, August 7, 2011
An artist who terms himself a ‘science fiction junkie’
London based Aicon Gallery showcases a solo ‘Dislocation’ (Milljunction Part 2) by Baiju Parthan. The artist elaborates: “Mumbai being a cosmopolitan city, consists of a floating population of immigrants from various parts of the country. Each one of these communities and individuals has their own version of Mumbai as their recollection of getting to know and comprehend it.”
In some works, different styles of painting exist within a single frame, in others it seems like two different time zones are pictured simultaneously. The artist also subtly uses mirroring within some of them and in a few the surface is interrupted by dripping computer code. This gives rise to a dizzying sense of multiplicity. His new series is both celebration and lament, archaic and super-technological. His use of mirroring, time-lags and alternate realities suggests a realm, or a mind that is disintegrating, the products of a restless gaze that never settles on one thing, or one time zone, for long.
A review in The Hindu by writer Ramya Sen mentions that his interest in technology, married to his passion for mythology is reflected in his art. The artist sees them as symbiotic. He has been quoted as saying: “I think technology and mythology feed off each other. I am always hunting for metaphors that can be translated into symbols used in art. I studied mythology and got a chance to pit different systems against each other and find motifs like the hero myth, creation, etc.
“I am a hardcore science fiction junkie – that is where the two meet for me. Metaphysical becomes science fiction – Matrix is essentially the hero myth in a cyberpunk environment! You start finding parallels in these worlds.” All narratives are indirectly quests of some kind. I enjoy the whole aspect of technology because it shifts perceptions, makes us extend our own selves in newer ways into the environment we live in.”
(Information courtesy: Aicon Gallery, London)
A look at Indian miniature painting tradition
To rewind the clock, Indian miniature painting tradition can well be linked to the first illuminated manuscripts, starting with as early as circa 1000. These were Buddhist, Jain or Hindu texts done on palm-leaf folios between exquisite wooden covers. With the advent of Mughal rule in India, paper was introduced. This resulted in a greater number of illustrated books. During Akbar's regime, Indian painting underwent a radical transformation. His kitabkhana employed over a hundred full-time painters, assistants and apprentices.
His successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan also valued books, gradually integrating and imbibing the then European elements through wonderful works brought to court by foreigners. Other distinctive schools of painting to emerge were under the kingdoms in the Rajasthan, Pahari and Deccan regions that gained in stature with the Mughal empire’s gradual decline.
The miniature paintings then had several eye-catching features; some of them as follows:
•Ink and water-based opaque pigments applied to wasli (a thick layered support by bringing together multiple sheets of delicate hand-made paper employing a wheat-based adhesive)
•Usage of semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli or malachite ground for pigment
•Silver or gold leaf applied to them
The traces of collecting Indian miniature paintings go back a century - to the early 1900s. Among the then collections now on public view and available for contemporary collectors to study are Ernest Binfield Havell. He compiled one of the earliest Indian miniature paintings collections at the Calcutta Art Gallery.
The number of people keen to acquire miniature works has only been growing since then. However, connoisseurs should first ideally familiarize with the history and trajectory of this fascinating art form and how tough it is to produce these exquisite works, to truly appreciate them. It makes sense to seek the advice of specialists with experience in this field.
His successors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan also valued books, gradually integrating and imbibing the then European elements through wonderful works brought to court by foreigners. Other distinctive schools of painting to emerge were under the kingdoms in the Rajasthan, Pahari and Deccan regions that gained in stature with the Mughal empire’s gradual decline.
The miniature paintings then had several eye-catching features; some of them as follows:
•Ink and water-based opaque pigments applied to wasli (a thick layered support by bringing together multiple sheets of delicate hand-made paper employing a wheat-based adhesive)
•Usage of semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli or malachite ground for pigment
•Silver or gold leaf applied to them
The traces of collecting Indian miniature paintings go back a century - to the early 1900s. Among the then collections now on public view and available for contemporary collectors to study are Ernest Binfield Havell. He compiled one of the earliest Indian miniature paintings collections at the Calcutta Art Gallery.
The number of people keen to acquire miniature works has only been growing since then. However, connoisseurs should first ideally familiarize with the history and trajectory of this fascinating art form and how tough it is to produce these exquisite works, to truly appreciate them. It makes sense to seek the advice of specialists with experience in this field.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Contemporary Indian artists relocate photographic references on canvas,
Several contemporary Indian artists relocate photographic references on canvas, impart a new dimension to them and explore socio-political concerns as well as personal identity. TV Santhosh appropriates references from such sources as magazines, newspapers and television.
The influence of print media is reflected in the photographic quality of his works, both in their clarity and composition. The artist blends both the negative and positive within one single frame. A photographic negative is usually the 'original' from which a photograph is printed, and so lies the paradox of his method of revealing the concealed truths of war. The inversion of the image gives the picture a new context and meaning as the darkest areas in the original image are transformed into the brightest highlights.
Bharti Kher’s practice encompasses digital photography that continues to explore her interest in kitsch and popular consumer culture. In her three digital photographs from the “Hybrids” series, she fashions women, children and everyday household objects with animal features. Her clever substitution of animals for people enables her to explore ingrained elements of behavior — enveloped by civility covering underlying human urges. Also, the hybrid character of the images becomes a metaphor for and a spectacularly physical embodiment of the ever contradictory human nature in the context of globalized urban society.
Riyas Komu is another prominent contemporary Indian artist who has chosen to embrace photorealism. One of the torchbearers of photorealism, so to say, he is renowned for his larger-than-life realist portraits of common an uncommon subjects like migrants and football players. On the other hand, Bose Krishnamachari, who created quite a few photorealistic works in the early part of his careers, now prefers installation and video.
However, most artists are wary of falling in a pattern or being labeled as photo-realists. Expressing her concerns, Prajakta Potnis has stated: “I find it too deadening to simply refer to a photograph – it is unemotional and dry.” Instead she prefers sourcing her visuals from at a live object, interplay of light & shade; to explore the possibility of transforming it into a work of art rife with human touch and emotions. Several contemporary Indian artists, inspired by real-life images, are raising issues relevant to socio-political or personal identities.
The influence of print media is reflected in the photographic quality of his works, both in their clarity and composition. The artist blends both the negative and positive within one single frame. A photographic negative is usually the 'original' from which a photograph is printed, and so lies the paradox of his method of revealing the concealed truths of war. The inversion of the image gives the picture a new context and meaning as the darkest areas in the original image are transformed into the brightest highlights.
Bharti Kher’s practice encompasses digital photography that continues to explore her interest in kitsch and popular consumer culture. In her three digital photographs from the “Hybrids” series, she fashions women, children and everyday household objects with animal features. Her clever substitution of animals for people enables her to explore ingrained elements of behavior — enveloped by civility covering underlying human urges. Also, the hybrid character of the images becomes a metaphor for and a spectacularly physical embodiment of the ever contradictory human nature in the context of globalized urban society.
Riyas Komu is another prominent contemporary Indian artist who has chosen to embrace photorealism. One of the torchbearers of photorealism, so to say, he is renowned for his larger-than-life realist portraits of common an uncommon subjects like migrants and football players. On the other hand, Bose Krishnamachari, who created quite a few photorealistic works in the early part of his careers, now prefers installation and video.
However, most artists are wary of falling in a pattern or being labeled as photo-realists. Expressing her concerns, Prajakta Potnis has stated: “I find it too deadening to simply refer to a photograph – it is unemotional and dry.” Instead she prefers sourcing her visuals from at a live object, interplay of light & shade; to explore the possibility of transforming it into a work of art rife with human touch and emotions. Several contemporary Indian artists, inspired by real-life images, are raising issues relevant to socio-political or personal identities.
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