Art Konsult presents Atul Sinha’s functional sculptures

Art Konsult presents Atul Sinha’s functional sculptures

New Delhi: Art Konsult presents Atul Sinha: Space Beyond Innovation, a solo exhibition of wood sculptures by young and promising artist Atul Sinha from October 21, 2008 to November 10, 2008 at Art Konsult, 23, Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi.

Atul Sinha is an accomplished and innovative artist who is adept at ceramics, glass etchings, wood, bronze and papier mache sculptures and has painted in oils, acrylics, gouache, water colour and inks, even using kerosene and diesel in his early works. His capacity to use different materials has given him a rare insight into blending matter with aesthetics. His forte, however, is sculpture and what makes him stand out in the crowd of young artists pursuing all sorts of fads is the fact that he has consistently been producing ‘sculpture for use’.

Says Siddharth Tagore, Director, Art Konsult, “The beauty of Atul Sinha’s sculptures lies in that he does not mass produce and each sculpture becomes unique in that sense. His sculptures can be used as tables, chairs, racks and lamps but they remain sculptures and one understands their aesthetic essence better by coming into contact with them. He has been able to transcend the fine line between art and design and the current exhibition showcases how successful he has been in this endeavor.”

While some art experts have criticized the utilitarian concept of art, Atul Sinha continues to seek gratification in the utility aspect of his sculptures. Explains the artist, “When I start working on a sculpture, I only attempt to collate my expeditions and artistic capabilities into three-dimensional figures. But on the same hand, I don’t object when my buyers decide to make use of it. My studio is not a factory which makes multiple copies of one entity. Each work has an identity of its own and is just like any other piece of art.”

Inspired by his diverse travels, from the stark landscapes of Spiti Valley, Leh and Ladakh, the deserts of Jaisalmer to the hills of Uttarakhand, Atul Sinha brings out the best in wood, gently nudging it into shapes that evoke recognition of images from those lands.

His work Together & Forever, showcasing the face of a couple from the hills, is symbolic of man-woman relationship which is the essence of life. Similarly, Embrace shows a couple holding hands signifying the recognition of the self & human form. Nostalgia of Infinite is a boat that highlights a man’s craving to travel to distant places. Each sculpture denotes a feeling of harmony and peace and brings out the synergy between positive and negative spaces.

The concept of utility-in-art goes back to the Bauhaus artists of Pre-World War II Germany who saw no reason why goods for use should not be aesthetically good as well. They were the forerunners of the concept of designer products and what we call lifestyle today. Atul Sinha has gone beyond them by blending aesthetics and use in such a way that art doesn’t become design.

Atul’s ceramic bottles are collector’s pieces today, his lighted sculpture is in The National Gallery of Modern Art , and sculptures for use are in the collection of the Village Gallery, Gallery Ganesha, Arushi Arts, Delhi Art Gallery, Art Konsult, Rahul Art, CIMA and the Kumar Gallery, to name only a few. Apart from the gallery collections, collectors from Germany, USA, UK, Portugal, Chile, Angola and Cuba have bought his works over the years. It is interesting that his major collectors are all who are known to interest themselves in original and innovative art.

His present exhibition reflects not only the aspect of learning the qualities of a work of art through using it, but also his insight into three-dimensionality and the integration of light and shadow, positive and negative space in it to create a unique environment around each work. That is why his work is best looked at by moving round it and observing its changing forms from different angles. To make this process more engrossing, Atul says, “I have evolved a repertoire of multiple textures, levels of treatment of the layers and grain of wood and figurative elements as diacritical marks to guide the viewer along the way.”

Adds Siddharth Tagore, “This exhibition of sculptures reflects the self confidence we have today in our expression and its relevance to the future. The works reflect not only innovativeness and originality, but also the remarkable continuity that the sculptor has shown, which is important for an artist to be worth collecting and investing in.”

These qualities of Atul’s have been recognized, as a result of which his art is known and respected among a wide range of connoisseurs and collectors. It is also an advance on his earlier work, involving many more elements that are marshaled together to give us a complex picture of life in a framework of space that is structured and yet in motion; of three dimensionality that becomes a two-dimensional concept; and of touch and feeling awakening to new areas of visual experience in the viewer. At the same time his art is iconic without being reverential, figurative without being topical and infused with liveliness without being gimmicky. This is why it has a future and a place in the ongoing saga of our contemporary art.

Delhi Art Gallery presents Frame, Figure, Field

Delhi Art Gallery presents a blend of 20^th century Modern & Contemporary Art practices in Frame. Figure. Field

New Delhi: Delhi Art Gallery presents Frame. Figure. Field; a group show of an eclectic collection of artworks by twenty-two artists from October 18, 2008 to November 20, 2008 at Delhi Art Gallery, 11 Hauz Khas Village, New Delhi. The show highlights some of the pictorial propositions manifested in the 20^th century Modern Indian painting and its overlapping with contemporary art practice. The exhibition will be accompanied with a well illustrated catalogue with essays by art critic and independent curator Roobina Karode.

The participating artists include Shobha Broota, Avinash Chandra, Amitava Das, C Douglas, Shanti Dave, Jaya Ganguly, Sheela Gowda, Satish Gujral, M F Husain, P Khemraj, Ambadas Khobragade, Sovan Kumar, Altaf Mohammedi, Rabin Mondal, Gogi Saroj Pal, Sohan Qadri, G R Santosh, Paritosh Sen, Nataraj Sharma, F N Souza, Vivan Sundaram and Vasudha Thozhur.

Says Ashish Anand, Director, Delhi Art Gallery: “The exhibition highlights the constant challenge for the medium of painting in present times to reinvent itself and reconfigure meaningful equations between the frame, figure and the pictorial field. It emphasizes on the co-existence of a range of options with artists, especially from the 1970s onwards.”

The works in the exhibition embody radical acts performed by artists within the pictorial frame or field. The purpose of exhibition is not to display brilliant rendering and drafting skills but to attempt the shaping of a personal language that translates formal, conceptual as well as thematic concerns into creative expression. The show brings together expertise of artists from different generations and different regions. For instance, while veteran artist Ambadas Khobragade brings out non-representational genre on canvas, young artist Sovan Kumar utilizes the truck as the main motif for a tongue-in-check portrayal of the destruction of the rural life. Late artist P. Khemraj ploughs the vast terrain of his canvas titled Charpai that communicates depth, surface, illusion, movement and mystery within the medium of painting. Veteran artist Satish Gujral blurs the divide between painting and sculpture through his architectonic sculptural piece meant to be hung on the wall in the manner of painting. Yet another veteran artist Sohan Qadri makes use of challenging techniques in painting. He allows the colour to percolate through the thick hand-made paper he paints on, allowing forms to develop on the other side that he then textures by tearing and blending the surface.

Looking at the works of some women artists, one experiences an extremely vivid response to space, articulated through feelings of nostalgia, claustrophobia or longing. In Gogi Saroj Pal’s paintings, woman’s desire vis-à-vis prescribed societal roles is scrutinized quite persistently. Often her female figures acquire wings or extra limbs, expressing unspoken desires or predicament. In Valley of Flowers, Gogi has transformed the pictorial space into dreamy landscape, the crimson colour representing both the earth and sky in which the female protagonist appears in effortless flight. Acquiring cloud-like wings, her airborne body moves gracefully above the infinite landscape that carries no mark of place or people. While Gogi revels in the openness of the imaginative landscape, Vasudha Thozhur’s jigsaw composition in Still Life with Cat and Bananas presents an unsorted view of life. The crowded spaces of memories and imagination reveal conflicting emotions of desire and dilemma, joy and dread with symbols of fecundity and nurture scattered all over. Inventing ripped anatomies, Jaya Ganguly’s audacious display of disarticulations on the female form symbolizes an inquiry into the ‘unspoken’ depths that engulf a woman’s life. The female body here is not merely a form but bearer of pain, conflict and stressful situations. The ugliness of decadent female flesh represents the body as a speaking subject rather than an object of male gaze. Artist Shobha Broota, one of the strong feminine artists of Indian abstraction, uses the very basic geometric forms to visualize the unseen and links soul, body and mind in their abstract renditions.

Thus, these artists formulate an interesting mix, especially the ones who have now embraced other media and formats, using computer generated imagery, organic and recycled materials and the sculptural-installation format. This is surely an opportunity to see the early works of Vivan Sundaram, Shanti Dave, Sheela Gowda and some relatively recent works by Nataraj Sharma, Sovan Kumar and Jaya Ganguly.

While artists in present times move on to explore and master new media and formats in their art practice, using the video, photograph and site-specific installations, the medium of painting faces a constant challenge to reinvent itself and reconfigure meaningful equations between the frame, figure, and the pictorial field.

Therefore, this group show at Delhi Art Gallery is well worth a visit!

Aakriti Art Gallery presents Gen Next aritsts

Gen Next, the annual show of the Aakriti Art Gallery was conceived with the sole idea of promoting contemporary artists below forty years of age. Gen Next shows have revolutionized the concept of curatorial endeavor and brought about a change in the approach to the way of seeing. The show that was initiated in 2006 as the first anniversary celebration of the Aakriti Art Gallery, the core concentration was led by the commitment to promote young talent and project their works. It has been the motto of this gallery since foundation to search for novel possibilities and unique ideas, thus to conceptualize a different language in showcasing and endorsing artworks.

Among its leading accomplishments in such a small span of time, the show ‘Gen Next’ holds a key role to enunciate the discursive platform in integrating the dynamism of creative minds beyond borders. Though the first year of Gen Next saw the union of artists of different faculties of visual arts mainly from the eastern fringe of the country that too prominently from Kolkata itself, the Gen Next II led the city as the most happening spot of promoting art, creating a distinguished position in the country; thus evolving a new wave in the art world. In 2007, the second Gen Next was an elaborative effort to profoundly bring in the young artists from all over the country to react on a single dais. It exploded in the form of a collective creative energy where thirty-seven young minds of the present generation expressed their artistic ventures at a single go. Gen Next II reached out to the vibrant audience of the country that shared the most effervescent experience in the medley of expressions with innovation, experimentation and freshness.

It was the success of the first Gen Next that encouraged us to go for the second dive. It’s no tall claim but in actual facts and figures that the first two Gen Next have not only given birth to a new discourse of articulating and showcasing artworks but also led to the establishment of a number of young artists with a rising graph in their artistic career including the attainment of international fame. Few among them like Farhad Hussain, Birendra Pani , Debraj Goswami , Barun Chowdhury amongst others are already auction listed. Now what makes Gen Next III a call of the day goes without any explanation!

Gen Next III has been designed in an exclusive way with exhibition, workshop and open interactive sessions to form a complete panorama lifting this event to an international height. This is the first ever time that foreign artists from different continents are joining the show through an arduous selection process and not by any request or invitation. Around eight hundred entries had been received from all over the globe where artists below forty years of age had sent their profile and current works to get entry in the selection process. A panel of experts comprising artists, critics, and connoisseurs went for a rigorous grueling of their creative effort and finally forty out of them have been given the opportunity to participate in this alluring platform. According to Vikram Bachhawat , Director, Aakriti Art Gallery, “Gen Next III will display works selected after thorough assessment , taking into account diverse genre and visual aesthetics, while offering the viewer an enlightening experience “.

Gen Next III holds the significance of a global phenomenon in outlining the cultural contour through different forms of visual arts. This time the exhibition will not only show paintings, sculptures, textile and fine prints but also include photography and video art, thus expanding the boundary of the conventional faculties of visual arts. Among the forty participating artists, twenty-nine come from different corners of India, and the rest eleven from USA (3), Italy (1), Poland (1), Canada (1), France (1), Austria (1), Bnagladesh (1), Pakistan (1) and Brazil (1). Only a handful of five among them are from Kolkata. And the most intriguing part of the third Gen Next is that most of the artists are getting the opportunity to open up in this type of exhilarating event of international stature for the first time, thus making the whole affair more challenging than ever.

A Good Picture is Worth a thousand words

Gallery Threshold presents Prithpal Singh Ladi

Prithpal Singh Ladi returns after a decade with sculptures that

still have the power to shock and awe!

New Delhi, October 15, 2008: Gallery Threshold hosted a cocktail preview of Logic 'il' Logic, a sculpture show by artist Prithpal Singh Ladi who is back with a bang after a self-imposed hiatus of almost a decade. His eclectic sculptures display the usage of found material like broken tube-lights, fused bulbs, old chandeliers, scraps of old trophies, gemstones and metal to exhibit beauty in eccentricity. The show is on from October 16, 2008 till November 12, 2008 at Gallery Threshold, F-213 A, Lado Sarai, New Delhi. The show can be simultaneously viewed at www.gallerythreshold.com.

Present on the event were artists Shamshad Hussain, Gopi Gajwani, Vivan Sundaram, Ram Rehman, Prithpal Singh Ladi, Dharmendra Rathore, Pratul Dash, Manu Parekh with wife Madhvi Parekh, Amitava Das with wife Mona Rai, Subroto Kundu with wife Nupur Kundu, Art Curator Alka Pande, Prima Kurien, Alka Raghuvanshi, Sushma Bahl, Shukla Sawant and art critic Suneet Chopra.

Explained Tunty Chauhan, Director, Gallery Threshold: “Prithpal Singh Ladi was quite the shooting star when he appeared on the horizon around a decade ago, then wasn't heard of much, and has recently come back into the reckoning with his new works. Ladi makes sculptures that are restlessly rooted in a pervasive multitude of life's transforming manifestations. The art world awaits his return with curiosity, anticipation and bated breath.”

At 53, Ladi's works continue to exhibit his penchant for the eccentric and strange and reflect his constant struggle to come to terms with personal loss far beyond the ordinary. Almost every work is a tribute to the suffering of a family member but it is the artist’s masterly imagination at using material that redeems the work from being merely a personal indulgence. Though each sculpture is almost a condensed narrative that begins with an autobiographical tinge, it soon grows into a larger picture. Through intricately detailed dragonflies and hindless frogs, mechanical devices like an antique Mercedes typewriter, limp human figures in postures of obeisance, Ladi infuses his sculptures with a queer humor that enables the viewer to access them, moving effortlessly from the familiar to the fantastic, or from the apparent to the suggested.

Take his series Jewel Insects for instance. Large dragonflies made of glass, gemstones and metal are reference to his childhood years spent in Shillong replete with freedom of creativity and innocence which now he feels are “under siege”. Or the sculpture titled Replotted (fibre glass) where a bemused man tries to hold down a fossilized butterfly that has almost escaped his grasp. Says Ladi: “My father was a famed jeweller who was modern in outlook and gave me the freedom to choose art when the rest of the family was either doctors or engineers. When I lost him to cancer, I almost went into hiding fighting my own internal demons. I think I’m now ready to face the art world with work which will tell not only my story but also of so many others who we call the ‘common man’.”

In another sculpture tiled Type Muskan, Ladi has used an antique typewriter from the makers of Mercedes to create what he calls a ‘jungle story’ for his 10-year-old son Muskan. So, one can find desolate animal figures all telling their tale of nature being lost to deforestation and commercialisation. “I am revisiting my childhood years through my son. Just like a child, I learn everyday to resurrect dead material that is no longer of any use. Glass of whiskey bottles, broken tube-lights, fused bulbs, old chandeliers and scraps of old trophies all find their way into my work one way or the other. Sometimes, I get carried way too,” he smiles. What’s interesting is one can dismantle the sculpture to use the typewriter as an original, a technique the sculptor could master because of his science background in college.

Just as he had broken all norms of sculptural attitude during his student days in Baroda (“All our teachers could teach us was to make buffaloes and elephants,” he complains”), Ladi still retains the rebellious streak in him. As is evident in his work titled “And Look Who Walks The Ramp” and “Judicious” where he makes a comment both on fashion and judiciary!

Certainly, a much-awaited show that’s a must-visit!

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Ladi was born in 1955, In Shillong. He studied sculpture with distinction at the M.S. University, Baroda, 1981. He received a National Lalit Kala Akademi award, 1981, Gujarat LKA awards, 1978, 1988 and the inaugural Bendre Husain Award, 1989, also scholarships including one to the Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, 1981-82. He taught sculpture at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad and NIFT, New Delhi

Abir Karmakar's Dare to Bare

New Delhi, October 1, 2008: A stark-naked male figure stuck against a corner wall of a hotel room, Gallantry! One may exclaim, but here is more to it, the man on the picture boastfully stands right next to his paintings as one enters the premises of Gallery Espace at New Friends Colony. Abir Karmakar, the painter and the poised, greets the guests at the preview of his solo show ‘Within the Walls’, as people enter with awe and enthusiam.

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. 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, 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.

The show is on till October 21, 2008 at Gallery Espace, 16 Community Centre, New Friends Colony, New Delhi.