Art and Activism in the Age of Cultural Production

Artists try to make sense of it and grasp the world around them, and that is very tough today owing to an extremely coercive social landscape, he avers. A write-up to ‘‘Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Age of Cultural Production’ by Nato Thompson emphasizes: “How can really anyone find a distinct voice and make change when the world around is flooded with so much of information and images?

And what is one to make of the endless machine of consumer capitalism, which has appropriated much from the history of art and, in recent years, the methods of grassroots political organizing and social networking? Highlighting the work of some of today’s most innovative and interesting artists and activists, he reads and praises sites and institutions that empower their communities to see power and re-imagine it. From cooperative housing to anarchist infoshops to alternative art venues, the author shows that many of today’s most innovative spaces operate as sites of dramatic personal transformation.”

A mystifying fog of images and information seems to have engulfed the creative, media and advertising world - from television, radio, documentary and film to the glut of data generated by the new economy. With the fast rise of social networks, even most of our contemporaries, friends and peers have all suddenly started to sell to each one of us the ultimate end product: themselves. In this context, renowned curator-critic Nato Thompson looks to interrogate the irreversible implications of these important developments for those committed to socially engaged art practices and conscious activism.

At a broader level, his experience of closely dealing with the complex intersection of politics and art is something that has acted as a lead for him to write ‘Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Age of Cultural Production’ (‘Pages: 176. December, 2012; Melville Publishing); it’s to do with he himself as an author, and also many artists he knows, grappling with these critical issues of representation and also how to make specific meaning stick, especially the holistic experience of not only complete co-optation, since that appears a rather simplistic term, but also the manner in which visual representation gets fast sucked into a machine of rampant power and sort of spits back. It has created a situation with vast distrust.

‘Route Maps’ at The Guild

Mumbai-based Guild Art Gallery is currently hosting  ‘Route Maps’, a solo show of works, by Sudhir Patwardhan, in which his  brush appears sometimes to move faster than the image it is meant to render, leaving a swirl or swipe of paint across the picture surface. In consequence, many of his figures now emerge at the cusp between photography and abstraction.

Ranjit Hoskote notes in an accompanying essay, “Circling between the solitude of the studio and the sociality demanded by any engagement with humankind at large; immuring himself in the archive yet also launching forward on journeys of exploration, Sudhir Patwardhan has built for himself (and  for us, his viewers) a mobile observatory of human affairs.” 
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R. Siva Kumar mentions: “The artist prefers to tell his stories through images. But moving into his sixties he now knows that the desire to tell stories and to pass on one’s experience to the next generation is an innate human need rather than an individual trait. Transmitting stories is like transmitting one’s DNA; it keeps a part of us alive through a chain of memories we inscribe onto the minds of those who come after us.”

He adds, “With the mechanization of transport, travelling has also become periods of bodily inaction — the inactive body is carried through the world, and the world travels by but it is not seen. The world becomes a blur and the window becomes a mirror. The inactive traveller sinks into thought and multiplies herself internally; the window reflects her and multiplies her externally for the observant eyes of fellow travellers, sometimes clearly and sometimes as a blurred element in a madly overwritten image of the world.”

Born in 1949, Sudhir Patwardhan graduated in medicine from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune.  He moved to Mumbai in 1973 and worked as a Radiologist in Thane from 1975 to 2005. His first one person show was held by Ebrahim Alkazi’s Art Heritage Gallery in New Delhi in 1979. His recent solo shows include ‘Family Fiction’, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (2011.

His selected museum shows include ‘Social Fabric’, curated by Grant Watson, INIVA, London; Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden; Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (2012); ‘Modernist Art from India’, curated by Beth Citron, Rubin Museum, New York (2011); ‘Modern Indian Art- The Ethos of Modernity’, Sichuan Museum, Shenzhen Museum, Zhejiang Museum, China (2010); ‘ReVisions, Indian Artists Engaging Tradition’, curated by Susan Bean, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (2009); ‘Horn Please – Narratives in Contemporary Indian Art’, curated by Bernhard Fibicher and Suman Gopinath, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2007).

Dealing with issues of materiality, isolation and fragmentation

Sudhir Patwardhan is a socially conscious artist, who rightfully considers himself a ‘painter of people’, depicts multiple peculiar perspectives into struggles of urbane population, Mumbai in particular, the melting pot of commercial, financial and sociological ironies. His oils on canvas works incorporate a skillfully honed aesthetic to explore everyday realities of the city life, its locales and the way it inhabitants shape it.

The artist wants to take the viewers beyond the surface tensions and noises of one of the world’s most densely populated, largest and most energetic metros, engaging then in a probing encounter with it. His works explore with finesse the urban milieu of dramatic transformation, dislocation, anonymity and alienation.

Born in 1949 in Pune, Maharashtra, a practicing radiologist, Sudhir Patwardhan took to art out of his urge to express his social concerns. His first show was held at E. Alkazi's New Delhi based art gallery Art Heritage almost three decades ago. Since then he has had shows at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai; Gallery Chemould, Mumbai; Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi; Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore and Mumbai among other venues – nationally and internationally.

His work formed part of the major group show ‘Gateway Bombay’ at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in 2007. Entitled ‘Pokharan’ it depicted a distressed site in transition - filled with the toxic air and littered with haphazard construction owing to rampant industrialization. The muted colors emphasized the pollution of this lovely landscape and the near-exclusion of people that testified lifelessness amidst a looming panorama of urbanization.

Over the years, he has established himself as an artist who enters a deep dialogue through his work that addresses issues of materiality, isolation and fragmentation. He engages with the chaotic cityscape and scenes from the bustling street with unmatched sensitivity and intensity. His body of work ‘Citing the city’ at Sakshi Gallery in 2007 served as another example of a constant dialogue his art has with society, representing the reality in a transparent manner.

The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is the Queensland Art Gallery’s flagship contemporary art event that focuses exclusively on the art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia. Since the first Triennial in 1993, over 1.8 million people have visited the exhibitions. APT7 in 2012-13 will mark the 20th anniversary since the first APT.

The event is distinguished from other international art biennials and triennials by its extensive acquisition program and commissioning focus. It will present an opportunity to explore new developments in works from the region, as well as to reflect on the past two decades of contemporary art from it.

The first three Triennials demonstrated the diversity of contemporary art practice across the region, profiling 220 artists from 20 different countries. APT 2002 was radically different in that it considered developments in contemporary art over recent decades through in-depth explorations of 16 individual artists. APT5 (2006) continued to develop this new model and featured a selection of works from 35 artists and two multi-artist projects. In 2009, APT6 profiled the work of over 100 artists from 25 countries, including a number of artists and artist collaborations never seen in Australia before. It was the largest curated exhibition presented by an art museum in Australia.

The highly acclaimed Kids’ APT program features commissioned interactive artworks by exhibiting artists. Kids’ APT is an integral part of the exhibition series, aiming to engage young visitors with the ideas and work of contemporary artists from across the region. The APT regional programs include artist residencies, regional Queensland internships and education programs.

Since 2006, the Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque has curated film programs as a key component of APT. The thematic film programs profile diverse video and filmmaking practices, genres and practitioners working across cinema and contemporary art. With their sole focus on the contemporary art of Asia, Australia and the Pacific, the accompanying APT publications, academic papers and public programs contribute to critical scholarship and research into art of the region.

The APT series offers a unique educational experience for primary, secondary and tertiary students. Teachers and students are offered multiple entry points to engage with the exhibition including virtual tours, teacher notes and worksheets, which provide links to the curriculum and activities for the classroom.

APT7 takes place from 8 December 2012 until 14 April 2013.

Confidence in Photography Market marks a new peak

According to the most recent research report released by ArtTactic – its Photography Market Confidence Survey - the investor faith in the Modern & Contemporary market as far as the medium of Photography is concerned has gone up by an impressive by 9.2% for the six month period surveyed (May 2012).

What are the key observations that the  research report makes to suggest that confidence in Photography Market has indeed marked a new peak?

The Confidence Indicator in the Modern & Contemporary market now stands at 69 (any reading above 50 implies that there is more positive sentiment than negative in the market place). In terms of market direction in the next 6 months, 92% of the experts surveyed believe the Modern Photography market will go up (versus 50% in May 2012), a further 8% think it will be flat or no change. None of the experts believe the market will fall in the next 6 months.

A more cautious trend can be identified in the Contemporary Photography market, where 34% of the experts believe the market will go up (compared to 40% in October 2011), 66% believe it will remain around current levels. Again, none of the experts believe the market will fall in the next 6 months.

The biggest increase in confidence has been experienced at the top end of the photography market (prices above $100,000), which saw the indicator go from 66 in May 2012 to 93 in November 2012. This could signal that the market is increasingly seeking value in higher price categories. However, the current survey findings suggest a broad-based confidence across all the price segments above $10,000 level.

Among the top modern photographers, according to the researchers are William Eggleston, Josef Sudek, Man Ray, Edward Weston, Irvin Penn, Richard Avedon, Garry Winogrand, Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, and Manuel Álvarez Bravo. The top 10 Contemporary Photographers are Stephen Shore, Edward Burtynsky, Peter Beard, Sally Mann, Sebastiao Salgado, Philip-Lorca Dicorcia, Simon Norfolk, Martin Parr, Nobuyoshi Araki, and Robert Polidori.

Myths and fantasies form the core of many wonderful works

The element of fantasy forms the crux of fairytales, resembling a sort of survival mechanism in art and in real life, renowned artist Manu Parekh had revealed. Late MF Husain was another artist who drew inspiration from Muslim fables, the Ramayana and Mahabharata. In the works of artists like FN Souza and Jamini Roy, myths about Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection as well as the devil were recurring motifs.

Anjolie Ela Menon, one of India's top contemporary artists, has recounted how the stories of her childhood while spending time with her grandmother inspired her. She narrated her stories of an old demoness who would scream, scare and threaten. The immense power of such fantastic narratives and fantasy tales has inadvertently seeped into her canvas. ‘Independence Day’, a new composition by the artist, captures little children's innate fascination for fairytales. She uses kites as mythic 'symbols' for them.

According to her, Indian art has invariably relied on its rich narratives and lore, barring a brief phase of Parisian influences. Paresh Maity is another artist who has let his fairytales do the trick in an installation ‘The Flying Dream’ done in wood, mirror and mixed media. It retells the Greek myth of the flying horse (Pegasus) and that of the bird-horse with wings (Pakkhiraj Ghoda) of the tales from Bengal. The installation is a culmination of varied mythological tales, creating a new metaphor for a mystical man-woman relationship.

Some blame the abstraction in the contemporary imagery for driving away fairy tales and myths out of the current art practice. But abstraction in India is actually fairy tale at its best, according to the Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) chariman Ashok Vapeyi. He has stated that the loss of connection with fairy tales could well be because of drifting away from traditional myths in an order to create a new universal contemporary language. Noted critic-curator and the brain behind ‘Roop Katha’, Ina Puri has been quoted in an IANS news report some time ago: "When one looks at Western art, one suddenly wants to return to memories of childhood and own fairytales."

A solo by Post-war Greek art masters

London-based Grosvenor Gallery is set to host a new show, entitled ‘Fassianos: Everyday Myths – Le Quotidien Mythique’, revolving around one of the greatest postwar Greek art masters. Here is a quick look at the artist, his art and career courtesy the gallery.

• Alekos Fassianos (born 1935) studied violin at the Athens Conservatory and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts from 1956 - 1960 where he was taught from Yannis Moralis. He then went to Paris on a French State scholarship (1962–1964) where he attended lessons on lithography along with Clairin and Caroline Chariot-Dayez.
• The artist lived and worked solely in Paris from 1966 and divided his time between Paris and Athens from 1974. His first real recognition came during a New York exhibition at the Facchetti Gallery in 1966. Since then Fassianos has had many exhibitions worldwide including ones in Athens, Hamburg, Tokyo, Milan, Munich, Paris, London, Stockhom and the United States.
• Fassianos draws inspiration from Greek myths, Fayum portraits, Byzantine icons and the shadow theatre. His paintings are also characterized by motion which is emphasized by the hair or cloth waving in the breeze.
• In his artistic maturity his figures are known for their voluptuousness and the luminosity of the color he uses to highlight the sensuality and the immense pleasure of everyday life.  This is probably less true of his early works. His works from the 1960s were made in the expressionist style and his figures are more grotesque.
• Jean-Marie Drot, former director of the French Academy in Rome, notes that "for Fassianos, the artist's ultimate goal is to transform the most elemental aspects of everyday life, the most familiar figures into divinities, retracing, in reverse, the ancient tradition that allowed the great Olympian gods to assume the guise of mortals and mingle with them, talk to them and even seduce them without scaring them.
• Apart from painting he has worked on scribing, poster creation, illustration of books and various publications in Greece and abroad. He has also collaborated in many theatrical projects with the National Theatre of Greece and has also written many poems and essays.