Seher presents Ananya Dance Festival

On October 11, 2008 at around 7pm the darkness of twilight will convert to the luminosity of the majestic Ananya Dance Festival at Purana Qila. For this, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Sahitya Kala Parishad has joined hands with Seher, India’s leading cultural organization, to bring about a cultural revolution in the country.

“In this age of television boom and growing TRP’s of reality television—our heritage and culture needs to be preserved and marketed smartly amongst the youth or else there is a danger that most of it would be declared intangible heritage shortly ”, says Sanjeev Bhargava, Festival Director, Ananya Dance Festival.

Ananya is an attempt to showcase Indian classical dance in its pure form but packaged sleekly for the younger generation and first time enthusiasts of Indian culture. ANANYA: ‘The Unparalleled - A dialogue of Indian classical dance with heritage monument’ is Seher’s annual dance festival which celebrates the beauty of Indian classical dance forms and focuses on group choreography in particular.

One of the highlights of Ananya’08 is that it would be Kalakshetra’s first performance after renowned danseuse Leela Samson took over as the famed institution’s director. Moreover, in keeping with Ananya’s tradition of identifying younger and lesser known talent, two of Delhi’s young dancers Malti Shyam and Jayaprabha Menon would be creating a special cite-specific choreography at Purana Qila. This year’s Ananya is also being keenly awaited because of hosting Jai Kishore’s (Kuchipudi) first group performance in Delhi. Also, this year SEHER has gone one step ahead in adding an academic perspective to performing arts with a two-day interactive seminar on October 13^th & 14^th at Alliance Francaise titled Pratibimb where stalwarts like Leela Samson, Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Jai Kishore Mosalikanti among others would reflect on the varied nuances of group choreographies.

The festival begins with the famed institution Kalakshetra from Chennai, who are renowned for featuring different styles of music and dance from across the country. Choreographed by Leela Samson, they will be performing the most popular and widely performed dance style Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form originating from Chennai. Says Director, Kalakshetra, Leela Samson: “Our presentation begins with a keerthanam (song) on Lord Shiva’s Ananda Tandava, followed by Kalinga Nartanam which speaks of Lord Krishna’s victory over cobra king Kalinga. Then we have tried to do a dance theatre narrative through the French novel – The Three Musketeers and lastly the grand finale would be a medley of three Tillanas.”

This will be followed by another traditional dance form from Kerala, Mohiniattam by Jayaprabha Menon. One of the most accomplished dancers of the new generation and a disciple of Padmashree Guru Bharthi Shivaji, Jayaprabha’s dance is rooted in tradition. Her themes are not only contemporary and interpretative, bold and novel but, she also blends in her dance a refreshing originality with traditional discipline. Says Jayaprabha, “At this Ananya Fest, we will be performing Layalahiri, a combination of Kathkali (a representation of tandava) and Mohiniattam (an expression of lasya - an extremely feminine, graceful and fluid type of dance). In this particular choreography the contrasts and similarities of these two major art forms of Kerala will be explored.”

Another accomplished participating choreographer is veteran Guru Durga Charan Ranbir who will be presenting Odissi, the classical dance form of Orissa in north-east India. Says Durga Charan Ranbir, “Odissi’s color, rhythm and gaiety evolve from the sculpture of the temples. Its spontaneity and outflow of ecstasy is unparalleled, depicting beauty and subtlety, grace and charm while being completely engrossed in the varied moods and sentiments of sringar rasa.” His troupe will start with Siba Mangalacharan (offering of flowers by the dancers on the manchprabesh followed by bhumi pranam and a prayer to deity of choice); Sthayee (based on sabdaswarapata and shilpasastra) and Aditya Archana (prayer to the sun god).

A highly sought after nattuvanar, Jai Kishore Mosalikanti has not only mastered the intricate Kuchipudi style of Andhra Pradesh but also developed a unique personal style with innovative use of rhythm and rhythmic variations. Says Jaikishore, “the innovative choreography we have used retains the essence of Kuchipudi form. With lilt and drama, the dance is rooted in classical poetry, appropriate raagam and an expert play with rhythm which is always with strict adherence to taalam.” At Ananya, Jaikishore will be showcasing his recent works along with five dancers. They are Kuchipudi Nrityamaalika (traditional prayer song to the goddess Balatripurasundari of Kuchipudi Village); Saraswati Stuti (in praise of Saraswati); Tarangam (praise of Shiva); Keerthanam (the dancers portray the beauty and charm of the gopikas who are adorning themselves and getting ready to join Krishna on a boat ride on the river Yamuna) and Thillana (creates a mood of joy and climax of the performance with complex rhythmic movements, footwork and patterns).

The finale of Ananya Dance Festival ’08 is with Malti Shyam’s performance of Kathak, the major classical dance form of northern India. Belonging to the Lucknow Gharana, Malti credits her growth and formation as a dancer, her energy and inspiration to the great master Pandit Birju Maharaj expert guidance in all aspects of Kathak. Says Malti, “At Ananya, our presentation begins with prayers offered to the Lord of the Lords Shiva. Then there is the Thumri (tender, evocative turn of wrists); Dadra that gets into the heart of the stealer of hearts, and last is the Tarana and Sargam.”

Special Feature of the festival: SEHER presents a two day interactive seminar - PRATIBIMB (A reflection on Ananya Dance Festival) with the artistes of Ananya Dance Festival’ 08 will take place at Alliance Francaise de Delhi, 72, Lodi Estate, New Delhi on October 13^th & 14^th , 2008 from 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. The eminent panel of speakers will include Leela Samson, Jayaprabha Menon, Guru Durgacharan Ranbir, Jai Kishore Mosalikanti and Malti Shyam.

The five day festival starts from October 11, 2008 till October 15, 2008 at Purana Qila, New Delhi

Programme

(Featuring group choreographies)

Saturday, October 11, 2008: 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.

Bharatanatyam: Kalakshetra

(Chennai)

Sunday, October 12, 2008:7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.

Mohiniattam: Jayaprabha Menon and group

(Delhi)

Monday, October 13, 2008: 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.

Odissi: Guru Durga Charan Ranbir and Nrutyayan group (Bhubaneswar)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008: 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.

Kuchipudi: Jai Kishore Mosalikanti and group

(Chennai)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008: 7 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.

Kathak: Malti Shyam and group

(Delhi)

Special Highlight:

October 13 & 14 October, 2008

Two day interactive seminar - PRATIBIMB (A reflection on Ananya Dance Festival) with the artistes of Ananya Dance Festival’ 08 will take place at Alliance Francaise de Delhi, 72, Lodi Estate, New Delhi on October 13^th & 14^th , 2008 from 10.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.

Launch of The Fuschia Tree

Exceptional Art, Exceptional Prices: 'MINT GREEN' fresh The Fuschia Tree Opens Its Portal with a global art show

New Delhi: The Fuschia Tree, a state-of-the-art web gallery announces its entry into the art world by creating a unique mélange of stylishly conceptualised artistic variety in its very first art and décor show titled Mint Green from September 24, 2008 to October 8, 2008 at The Attic, 36, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The show can be viewed simultaneously on www.thefuschiatree.com

Says Chanda Chaudhary Barrai, Director, The Fuschia Tree: "International trends suggest that Mint Green is the next colour of the season and, therefore, we bring a heady blend of classical, contemporary and cutting edge art and décor elements with international sensibility. By combining the diversity and integrity of art and design, we aim to bring forth enormous creative energy which is unique and irreplaceable in nature. This exhibition fuses the old and the new and crosses over to a new dimension where Indian and international art from Russia, Peru, Botswana, Africa, Pakistan and Thailand, a few to name, will be showcased in a single space."

Since Mint Green is the hottest colour of décor worldwide, the forthcoming exhibition showcases selected 40 artworks from across the globe…all in varying hues of the colour 'green'. And the best part is one can exchange the artwork with another as the season or style changes, with a 100 % authenticity and resale assurance guarantee!

What also sets this show apart is that The Fuschia Tree showcases most of the international art in Giclee (or digital) Prints which are authentic, affordable, and exchangeable. Jose De La Barra's Relax (Peru), Andre Raputo's Creek (Kazakhstan), Illyas Phaizulline's Outcast (Russia), Dane Willers' Elephant Bull (Botswana), Anthony Okello's Anonymous Couple (Kenya) and Irena Shklover's Harlequin and His Mask (Canada) are few examples to be noted.

Giclee (pronounced as Jhee-Clay) is the result of advancement in imaging technology to facilitate the art print-on-demand revolution. The term is derived from a French term that means 'to squirt'. The printer squirts the ink out onto the canvas, giving it added texture and depth that was missing from previous forms of printing. Many museums have used this technology to make the works of classical masters more accessible and cheaper. Giclees have proved their mettle by providing high-quality prints to art lovers who want to have their favorite art hanging on their walls, without blowing their budget.

The Fuschia Tree has taken great precautions to ensure that an artist's oeuvre remains authentic and he retains exclusive rights to his own work, being one of the few galleries to invest in Lock Lizard, a state-of-the-art anti-piracy software. An artist can upload high-resolution images and nobody can make prints out of them unless authorized by the gallery. The gallery also has web tools to ensure that not more than a thumbnail size of an image can be saved by any website visitor, onto their computers.

A brainchild of Chanda Chaudhary Barrai, The Fuschia Tree is a curated online gallery that has channeled the power of the internet to create a dynamic online space for emerging artists, design professionals, art lovers, and art collectors to come together harmoniously. All an artist needs to do is to simply upload their images on www.thefuschiatree.com and make himself instantly accessible to people the world over. TFT empowers artists by providing them with a profile page and a personalized URL that they can use on their business cards.

The Fuschia Tree, an art and art-in-utility gallery, like most of the galleries, earns 33% commission on all signed artworks. It has collaborated with high-end giclee printers in Hong Kong & China to develop fine art prints and will also produce its own lines of merchandise (cushions, stationary, handbags, T-shirts) designed by a panel of designers and artists.

TFT promises to be a one-stop-solution for artists, art collectors, design professionals or art enthusiasts. While emerging artists can showcase and sell their works (the price range is affordable between Rs 3,500- Rs 50,000), art collectors can browse the works of these artists and buy authentic art with a resale assurance. TFT is also a friendly platform for décor houses and corporate buyers. If you are an architect, interior designer, or a decorator, TFT enables you with a virtual tool kit, which will help you make your job a little easier. This tool kit comes with the Art Organizer, a "folder" called My Wishlist that enables you to select, store, and manage the artwork you like in two easy steps. When you find an image on our website that you like, you can save it to your Wishlist and continue searching. Your Wishlist keeps you organize without having to jot down the image number. You can browse, choose, and purchase amongst the most eclectic of world art from the comfort of your office and you can use My Wishlist so that your entire team can make the decision together. Not only this, art lovers can explore the gallery, communicate with the artists, browse The Fuschia Tree store for many art - in - utility product extensions, enjoy creating their own 'art' and read about latest art and decor trends from the art resource directory

Says Chanda Chaudhary Barrai, Director, The Fuschia Tree: "Over a hundred registrations have already been received from all over the world including Europe, U.K. U.S, South America, Africa, Far East, and of course, the Indian subcontinent. The response has been amazing and we already have a varied collection. The gallery has increased options for people who want to purchase exceptional works of art at a reasonable price."

With the website in place and registrations pouring in, a group of curators is on board to screen works submitted by the artists and scout for talent and traditional artifacts from across the world. Though the prices of the works will be kept minimal, an additional low down will be made possible through associate services, including print on demand where copies will be produced on canvas and paper and reproduction of artworks on knick knacks like handbags, notebooks and T-shirts. "For the artists this will be an additional income and collectors can count on these to make a reasonable purchase," says Barrai, who will also unveil art notebooks during the Mint Green Show.

Therefore, The Fuschia Tree promises to bring global art that will transform your home and office space, all at the click of a mouse!

Gallery Espace presents a dual treat for eyes

Gallery Espace Presents a Dual Treat for Art Lovers this October

New Delhi: As a veritable treat for art lovers, Gallery Espace presents two diverse yet powerful art shows that capture an artist’s personal journey both on canvas and camera. The first show, titled ‘Within The Walls’ has been mounted in cooperation with Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke (Mumbai) and will bring forth twelve photo-realistic paintings in oil on canvas by Baroda-based Abir Karmakar. The second show, titled “An Other Place” is of recent photographs and a video installation by Delhi lensman Ravi Agarwal. Both the shows will begin on October 1, 2008 to continue till October 21, 2008 at Gallery Espace, 16 Community Centre, New Friends Colony, New Delhi.

Says Renu Modi, Director, Gallery Espace: “In the current exhibition, Karmakar’s primary intention is confessional. He lures the viewer into a secluded world where attitudes of homo-erotic desire are performed before our gaze. The domestic space or the lurid hotel room becomes for a brief period of time a stolen habitation. On the other hand, habitat is seen from a completely different perspective through Agarwal’s camera. As a gallery, it is indeed a pleasure to bring to the viewer art which can be both provocative and awe-inspiring!”

Born in 1977, Abir Karmakar obtained an MA in Painting (Gold Medal) from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. A middle-class Siliguri boy who studied painting at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, Abir says, “I was always fascinated with the depiction of ‘realism’ on canvas and its various subversional possibilities. Even as an under-graduate student in Kolkata, I was using my ‘self’ as an image in my paintings.”

The works are unusual, to say the least, dramatic in their presentation and breathtaking in their visuality. Abir portrays his own self as haunting images of androgynous protagonists, placed in various expected and unexpected situations. He explains, “While everyone is talking about virtual reality in electronic terms, I am portraying it actually on the canvas. Frankly, that is the only interest I have. Perhaps I will look at various ways of representing it in my future paintings.”

Abir’s take on the dual existence of male and female in each human being is as old as the concept of Ardhanarishwara. The artist is featured as female on the canvas while being male in real life. He uses cross-dressing as a visual tool to make his point. However, what is interesting is the way he takes it beyond the obvious, drawing in facets of female physical exploitation and various problematic social attitudes to gender issues.

He says, “I work slowly, taking a lot of time to focus on and develop my concept, the layers of ‘sexual confusion’ that I can explore, all of it takes a lot of time.” Locating himself within middle class domestic spaces, he works with tropes of realistic painting, mannerist portraiture and the overt sexuality of tabloid pin-ups. While the (sexual) confessional photograph has gained currency – the deliberated sensuousness of oil painting delivers images of psychological abjection and sensual assertiveness.

To explain his paintings, one can say that they tend to move up and out, from the private to the public domain, assuming a powerful masculine view of cities, building sites, symbols of growth and the urban landscape in transition. The artist-to-subject engagement appears to be grounded in responses to media information, global economy and social discourse.

Ravi Agarwal trained as an engineer and works as an environmentalist in the non-governmental sector leading the NGO Toxics Link. As an environmentalist, Ravi works tirelessly to suggest constructive ways in which burgeoning ‘development’ in the city can interact with the ‘natural’. As a documentary photographer, Ravi’s focus has been on environmental and labour issues and the changing face of urbanity. His earlier work, in the documentary oeuvre, encompasses 'nature', 'work', 'labour' and the ‘street', while more recent work has been traversing explorations of self and the social and based on questions of nature and ‘personal ecologies.’

‘An Other Place’ showcases his latest work through a body of photographs and video shot over the past two years. In bringing together the ‘found’ and the ‘constructed’, in the four series of composite images-‘Urbanscapes’, ‘Mechanical Man’, ‘Machine Man’, ‘Ecology of Desire’ and a video- ‘Oil is not water’, Ravi expands the possibilities offered by the photographic lens. The documentary and the performative collaborate in images that speak of dislocation, the alienation of the self, and the loss contained in uninhibited contemporary urban development. Delhi, the city that Ravi inhabits, seems eager to shed its past in its urgent pursuit of the future.

Says Ravi Agarwal: “As the city’s richly layered histories are replaced by a temperamental commercial plasticity, my images serve as a residue of that which will soon be lost forever. However, the vibrant colours of the natural world seep into these photographs of desolate spaces and abandoned debris converting them into images of hope rather than loss.”

‘An Other Place’ offers, as the title suggests, an alternative space, a site that yearns to re-establish relationships with the organic, with that which is less ephemeral, a place where there is the possibility of “rediscovering a personal ecology”.

Ravi Agarwal became a familiar name in the art world when he represented India in the 11th Documenta, Kassel, Germany in 2002. He started wielding camera at the age of 13 and since then it has been a faithful companion to him. His engagement with the movement against ecological and environmental depletion added a new dimension to his photographs. Says the artist: “Photography, which has always been a sustaining and meaningful activity for me (like diary writings) became a medium in itself to further my interest in environment.”

Video Wednesday

New Delhi: After the successful launch of its path-breaking art presentation on video art in July this year, Gallery Espace now presents its third edition of VIDEO WEDNESDAY on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 as part of its innovative 'Reach Out' programme at Gallery Espace, 16, Community Centre, New Friends Colony.

Says Renu Modi, Director, Gallery Espace: "This unique project aims to reach out to the local communities and engage them with cutting edge new media art. As a gallery that promotes modern, contemporary and cutting edge art, we take this opportunity to exclusively focus on video art. Devised by the expert team of Gallery Espace, Video Wednesday also includes active participation of eminent artists, curators, critics and consultants. By the end of twelve such programs, a well documented book will be published on the video works and the artists who have already participated in this programme."

The participating artists include Kiran Subbaiah, Surekha, Umesh Madanahalli, Babu Eshwar Prasad and M.S.Prakash Babu.

M.S.Prakash Babu’s Three Months of Solitude is a 15 minute video which emphasizes on the paradox of human mind. He explains that: “When you’re in a crowd you prefer to be alone and when you’re alone, you want to be part of a crowd. You’re never satisfied with yourself, wherever you are.” The protagonist of his video is an Indian who is in Finland for three months on a scholarship. His sense of alienation is not merely because of physical detachment from life familiar to him but also due to a subjective point of view. He feels he is trapped in a dream…a reverie that doesn’t satisfy his soul.

On the other hand Babu Eshwar Prasad’s Splice is a 2minutes 35 seconds short video in the format of the Hollywood trailer- it has all the ingredients of a block buster gangster film. This film is a visual collage of action, promising and seducing the viewers to come and see the magic of celluloid. It is a farce, a bundle of predictable images and sounds that mocks us. It is a promise for the big film that was never made. His Dus ka Bees is another video that attempts at capturing the essence of popular Indian cinema posters that reflects all the ‘masala’. It is a juxtaposition of still images of multi layered film posters that is found on the walls of the city. This video follows the popular mainstream Indian cinema language and shows how the images in the posters contain a certain feel no matter who the star could be. It stresses on a pattern an average Indian popular film follows like sex, violence, etc.

Surekha’s Flovers is video that shows a game between two lovers, who exchange and play with flowers simultaneously. The flowers-along with their gazes of mutual obsession-act as a metaphor to varying modes of expressions and evocations of love and desire

Contemporary Indian Art has reached international heights in the recent years. The international art market is looking towards India for the new and cutting edge art. Many contemporary Indian artists have already been doing cutting edge new media art for the last few years. However, apart from the exhibition projects, no concerted effort has been taken by any gallery to showcase exclusive video projects and make it reach out to the common art loving public in the city. Video Wednesday in this sense, has proved to be a path breaker towards reaching out the common with cutting edge new media art.

The Reach Out program of the gallery includes, apart from involving local communities and art students with the new media art, instituting awards for upcoming art talents, documentation and library for public reference.