An Indian artist shines in the UK

Nikhil Chopra has been widely acclaimed for his performances that use a repertoire of characters to unravel the complexities of colonial India and Britain, along with his own history. For ‘Coal on Cotton’, He turns his focus to two materials that made Manchester supremely wealthy in the 19th century - and that continue to hold workers in modern slavery beyond Europe and North America.  This performance was part of Manchester International Festival

Born in 1974 in Kolkata, Nikhil Chopra studied art at Ohio State University and now lives in Goa. His work ‘Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing VIII’ was part of Marina Abramovic Presents... at MIF09. Held over 65 continuous hours in the new Landscape Gallery at the Whitworth, which opened 24 hours a day for the show's duration, his ‘Coal on Cotton’ spanned centuries and continents.

A press release stated: "The show asked its audience to witness and reflect on connections between the lives of our forebears and ourselves, and on the actions that drive power and possession. In a gallery space engulfed by cotton, Chopra's work made connections between Mumbai and Manchester, cities sewn together through Britain’s imperial might."

The Whitworth has been part of the cultural landscape of Manchester since 1889, when it was created as the first English gallery in a park as the Whitworth Institute with a particular focus on works on paper, world textiles and wallpapers has been a key feature at the Whitworth.

At the same time the Gallery has developed a reputation for the quality of its work with children and young people. It has long been at the forefront of digital collection access - being the first gallery in the UK to make its collection available online; and it has an esteemed reputation for the quality of its collections care and access.

Facets of TM Azis's art practice

Artist T.M. Azis has widely traversed fine art territory of both North India and South India, skillfully incorporating both into his vivacious oeuvre. Not very keen to be associated with one particular style, he looks to absorb new trends and also to study the new environment/places/people around.

Some of his more recent works focus on presentation of outlines juxtaposed with ‘beautiful emergent forms’ that largely result from amplification of antique photos, engravings, and stamps. Keen to experiment, he stayed away from painting to work as a photographer with artist CF John and dancer/performance Tripura Kashyal in a couple of installation/art projects. The enlightening experience re-introduced an awareness of compositional constraints of space evident in his later works, as an essay by a renowned critic-writer Phil Psilos (TM Azis- Artifacts Amplified) had noted.

The facets of this dynamic shift were amply evident in a solo show courtesy the Soulflower Gallery, Silom Galleria, Bangkok. The write-up mentioned: “Many painters and printmakers have experimented with presenting a pixilated visual landscape as a feature of the digital age, and it would be no surprise if Azis, working in India’s information technology capital, was also drawn to this approach.

However, it stands out from much of the ‘clutter’ of digital-traditional art crossovers, retaining its novelty in part owing to its innocence - its refusal to manipulate the underlying image - and its rejection of the ‘photo-shopper’s’ compulsion to edit or delete.” Significantly, retaining the drawing as the focal point of his oeuvre, the artist looks to build engrossing painted works through amplification of form and the addition of color and texture.

The artist invariably carries a sketchbook with him to keep scribbling, doodling or casually sketching random figures, abstracts or still life. All this is part of a larger artistic process. He goes through these scribbles and builds on the ideas further, creating the final sketch for paintings. Apart from many preliminary sketches, he also takes photographs that may be incorporated in a piece.

An internationally applauded sculptor’s unconventional universe

His versatility and inventiveness that encompasses a wide range of works from site-specific interventions on floor or wall and powdered pigment sculptures, to gigantic indoor and outdoor installations is what makes Anish Kapoor a truly versatile artist.

Deep-rooted metaphysical polarities

This internationally applauded sculptor has explored what he perceives as deep-rooted and diverse metaphysical polarities: being and non-being, presence and absence, and the solid and the intangible. His works often emphasize on perception and purity, enacted in three-dimensional space. They tend to carve, color and complicate space in many different ways, imparting interactive aspects and pushing that purity back & forth between votive and technological, East and West.

A decade or so older than most of the Young British Artists, who happened to take the art world by storm in the early 1990’s, his sensibility remains markedly different owing to an cross-cultural upbringing. The fact that he did not begin life in a Western culture has probably added a curious hybrid dimension to many of his projects.

A fulfilling art journey

Born in the city of Mumbai in 1954, he left India two decades later - originally to become an engineer like his father. He only took up art seriously after joining the Hornsey College of Art (1973-77) followed by graduation at Chelsea School of Art (1977-78). For a year or so, he taught at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, and was chosen as Artist in Residence at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool in 1982.

In the last two and a half decades of his art career, he has established himself as an art practitioner with a unique persona, character and style. In particular, his usage of unusual methods and unconventional materials (like the brightly colored pigments he began using after a visit in the late 1970’s to India), juxtaposed with a very peculiar non-Western visual idiom, have helped him attain global fame, attention and status.

Traversing mundane for the magical world

Paramjit Singh’s landscapes, with their loaded silence evocative of the other worldly, became over the years, a distinct mystical utterance in pictorial terms. The esoteric element in his early landscapes was perhaps apt response to the mystery in tensions between the deep pictorial space and the sharp shadows of inanimate objects in the picture metafisica, a short-lived school in modem Italian art, and to the later Surrealist paintings. All these were transformed over about two decades into a personal statement in his wonderful paintings.

His recent noteworthy participations include 'Art for Humanity', Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai (2012); 'Ethos V: Indian Art Through the Lens of History (1900 to 1980), Indigo Blue Art, Singapore (2011); 'Art Celebrates 2010', courtesy Gallery Threshold at Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA), Delhi to coincide with the Commonwealth Games (2010);  'Contemporary Printmaking In India', courtesy Priyasri Art Gallery, Mumbai at Jehangir Art Gallery (2010); and  'Freedom: Sixty Years After Indian Independence', CIMA, Kolkata (2008).

The veteran artist has participated in several important events and fairs in India and abroad, including 'Tryst with Destiny: Art from India', courtesy CIMA, Kolkata and Singapore Art Museum in association with NGMA, Delhi at Singapore Art Museum (1997); 'Chamatkara: Myth and Magic in Indian Art', courtesy CIMA, Kolkata at Whitley's Art Gallery, London (1996); ‘Indian Encounters’, London, New York and Dubai (1993); Art Biennale, Cairo, Egypt (1994); Art Festival, Israel (1994); Cultural Centre, West Germany (1987); and the First Young Asian Artists Exhibition, Tokyo (1957), among others.

Paramjit Singh’s practice is very significant in a sense that it creates a serene space for itself and of a truly aesthetic haven for its involved viewers. The passionate artist takes us through a continuum or series, skillfully evading any possibility of self-duplication. His paintings, done both in the representational and the realist style, come across as a gentle exploration of the myriad possibilities that exist beyond the mundane world and environ that surrounds us; traversing the humdrum of day-to-day life, noises and human activities as well as busy streets packed with people and vehicles.

A veteran known for masterly brushwork

This is an artist whose masterly brushwork tends to chart a captivating course on the canvas, which provides the viewer with fabulous panoramic visions of truly magical and mystic landscapes.

The bush, soaked in thick pigment, refuses to take a pause before having filled the whole surface and before the paint has made sure that each natural form present in the frame has been rendered with a tactile, colorful presence. Those dappled areas of the water bodies and sky too are given a tactile feel even as the lovely lines that etch out the gorgeous grass, the luscious leaves, the peduncle, all appear to be possessed by a lyrical, mysterious musicality. Here are some important milestones in his career thus far:

Born in 1935 in Amritsar, Paramjit Singh had his art education in the School of Arts, Delhi Polytechnic (1953-58). He honed his skills in printmaking at Atelier Nord, Norway (1973), and was the founder member of 'The Unknown', a group of young painters and sculptors based in Delhi.

He was a faculty member of the Department of Fine Art, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, for 29 years, and retired as Professor in 1992. He won the National Award in 1970. Among his selected solo shows are 'Beauty & Loss: A Landscape Diary', Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi (2010); 'Shall Return Again....', Centre of International Modern Art (CIMA), Kolkata (2009); and ‘Green Thought’, Bodhi Art, Singapore (2008) apart from exhibitions at Vadehra Art Gallery, Delhi (2007, 2002, 1998, 1995); Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai (2005); CIMA, Kolkata (1999, 1994); Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore (1997); and Gallery Chemould, Mumbai (1996, 1974, ‘78,’81, ‘85, and ’90) among others.

Apart from joint shows ‘Inner / Outer’, with Rajendra Dhawan at Talwar Gallery, New York (2002) and Mahinder Tak, Washington DC (1993), the celebrated artist’s works have been showcased internationally at venues including Grosvenor Gallery, London ('Progressive to Altermodern: 62 Years of Indian Modern Art' in 2009, 2007); Talwar Gallery, New York (2004); Air Gallery, London courtesy Gallery Maya (2001); City Art Centre, Hong Kong organized by Gallery Maya (1996); Gallery Kilian, Celle, West Germany (1989); Cultural Centre, Bomlitz, West Germany (1987); and Kunstner Forbundent, Olso, Norway (1973) among others.

Spotlight on a versatile contemporary Indian painter and print maker

Alwar Balasubramaniam's oeuvre strives to express the oft-overlooked, unseen and the inexpressible – people and issues. His unconventional sculptural forms refer to philosophical concerns and raise discomforting questions. They not only bring forth his ideas but also denote his meticulous search process.

The versatile painter and print maker, equally proficient at handling mixed media and sculpture, is keen to experiment with an array of materials like fiberglass and wax. He produces often very tactile and very physical forms to explore fundamental issues related to human existence, such as what defines the self and what is that confines us. It denotes his quest for the ungraspable and unspeakable. Through their implicit immateriality, they can merge intellectual, spiritual and emotional concerns.

The artistic phenomenon created by him tends to reveal the omnipresent, albeit invisible, the essential yet overlooked, or the strong yet unnoticed. It unravels not only the immediate world but also one within us. He lets us transgress the boundaries between elements, as they seamlessly connect and then converge, as if questioning the submissiveness of our own consciousness to them and their foundation, in the process. For more than a decade, he has assiduously kept challenging our notions; also pushing our pre-set limits of understanding and perception of material as well as experience of space.

You may be prompted to know how interplay of light and shadow shapes our view of the world. The treatment of materials employed may vary in terms of form and content, shuffling between, silkscreen prints, plaster and paper relief. Ideas they look to project seem to reach out to us like sepulchral plaster bodies and arms frozen in walls. There are akin to big swipes being taken here. There are strong threads, which apparently hold these works together. Often evoking fragmented, disjointed body parts, ubiquitous objects, or unfamiliar organic forms, he challenges and explores the limits of perception.

Public art is taking root in India

Here are a couple of noteworthy instances of recent public art projects in India:

Subodh Gupta’s 'Line of Control'

Kiran Nadar, the chairperson of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), accomplished the mounting of probably India's largest ever public art installation at any museum in the country. Subodh Gupta’s 'Line of Control' at her museum site in New Delhi is a 36 feet x 36 feet stainless steel mushroom cloud acquired from Europe's Hauser & Wirth gallery.

Speaking on the occasion, she said “The ‘Line of Control’ is not merely unique and rare, but brings a whole set of new challenges for the museum in terms of its installing, maintenance and storage.” KNMA unveiled this iconic stainless steel installation by the renowned contemporary artist, set up for the first time in India. The cloud-like sculpture poignantly represents the mushroom cloud emanating from Hiroshima or Nagasaki in August 1945 when atomic bombs were hurled on the cities.

The Yamuna-Elbe public art project

Conceptualized and implemented in November 2011, The Yamuna-Elbe public art project was conceived as part of the India Week celebrations in Hamburg. It aimed at making people rethink their sacred and need based relationship with the river and the fragile ecology it supports by making it part of the art. Most of the works done by Indian and German artists were lined up along the two riverbanks.

Signifying the general apathy, artist-environmentalist and co-curator of the project, Ravi Agarwal, was quoted as saying, “While the river Yamuna is really on nobody’s mind in Delhi, the city of Hamburg has actually maintained the tidal data of the river for the last 100 years for each day.” Atul Bhalla conceived a 12- part series of a photo-performance on Elbe. Gigi Scaria’s 25-foot-high, fascinating fountain, kept pumping water from the river Yamuna and purify it as it’s pushed up. The artist intends to make similar fountains nearby several other polluted rivers of India.