Lockdown Stories by Shweta Gautam

Artist: Shweta Gautam

 

Unexpected  journey of creative people. So here comes my story of lockdown connected through Pen & Paper. 

 

Days in lockdown were opportunities for an artist to explore more with pen & paper, making the most of what they had available. 

 

Mumbai never had such curfew stories before. Curfews in Mumbai also taught many responsibilities and their role in contributing in our own way to find a solution to collective problems. 

 

During curfews many learned about the importance of being creative with the scarce resources and limited physical space they had at home. 

 

Some even learned to be hygienic and developed new skills but what mattered the most was learning to appreciate the emotional connections between different generations.

Although it seems strange as a title, but I feel this lockdown has made more stories to come to life than the entire lifetime put together. Every day it was a new story, new understanding of myself and the world around me. Entire world going upside down and the challenges faced by each individual. For me, the perspective of life and the surrounding just changed. Interpreting new visuals and the value of life, the entire meaning just changed. Sometimes, life puts you in a situation where your best comes out. For me the lockdown stories are more of a memories and reflection of each day in various lights. Nothing was planned and there was no goal to make these stories, but day after day these reflections just started to appear on the paper and made it a relaxing experience than the chaos around. Now seeing it from a wider perspective,  the Universe had a plan. The process of creating this visuals was more of a meditation and connecting with the higher self then just exploring the art. Felt like I just tapped into the energy unaware, guiding me to its final destiny.

From: 8^th to 14^th February 2022

“Lockdown Stories”

An Exhibition of Pen & Paper Line Art Work

Solo show by young contemporary artist Shweta Gautam

 

VENUE:

Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400 001

Timing: 11am to 7pm

Pin Poster : Jehangir Art Gallery

 

From: 8th to 14th February 2022

“Polo Series”

An Exhibition of Paintings

By

Well-known artist M Narayan

VENUE:Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road,

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001

Timing: 11am to 7pm

The Polo Series is one of M Narayan's most beloved works, and it reflects his passion for horses.

 

Artist: M.Narayan

An extremely prominent artist both nationally and globally, M. Narayan (Narayanappa Muniyappa) was born in 1967 in the small village of Mittiganahalli in the state of Karnataka. Having done his B.F.A. from Bangalore's Ken School of Art he currently resides with his family in Pune, Maharashtra. He is an extraordinary painter using the lavishness of colours to evoke emotions, celebrations and joy. His paintings depict a zestful life and are exhibited across the globe, at prestigious avenues, art galleries, luxury hotels and more.

 

Recent work at Jehangir Art Gallery 2022

The Polo Series is one of M Narayan's most beloved works, and it reflects his passion for horses. He uses charcoal and a range of colours to depict polo players and racing horses in a unique style. His life-like polo paintings transport you to the midst of a live polo match, literally!! M Narayan depicts the game's energy and velocity with such strong expressionist strokes, swabs of opaque colours, and rough charcoal lines that one feels the energy and aura.

Recent work at Jehangir Art Gallery 2022

 

His paintings depicting the regal sport of polo have been a huge success, owing to his keen eye for colour and deft touch with composition.

 

Enjoy his lavish 'POLO' paintings, which display the grandeur of his remarkable talent, at Gallery 2, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, India from 8th to 14th February 2022 - 11 am to 7 pm.

From: 8th to 14th February 2022

“Polo Series”

An Exhibition of Paintings

By

Well-known artist M Narayan

VENUE:Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road,

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001

Timing: 11am to 7pm

 

This Jabalpur based artist has painted Lataji & Gandhiji in a very different manner for which his name is registered by 3 famous recording institutions.

“Chitralatika" An exhibition showcasing the journey of Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar ji by Ramkripal Namdeo, one of the prominent artist from Jabalpur, Madhyapradesh!

Artist: Ramkripal Namdeo

Ramkripal Namdeo has won many awards and done numerous shows in all over India. His paintings has won many records for his intricate work depicting maximum number of faces in a single painting.

This show will be inaugurated on 5th February 5.30 pm by chief guest: Mr.Ashish Rego

Vice Chairman A.P.M.A (Asia Pacific Music Creators Alliance), and guest of honors:

Mr. Basu Soni- Film actor (Kedarnath,Raktanchal etc,),

Mr. Govind Namdev - (Actor, Writer, Theater Director), Mr. Raj Yadav (Indian Express), Mr. Makrand Joshi etc will be present.

At the beginning of the program, singer Prachi Joshi will perform a song on Maa Saraswati.

Ramkrupal Namdev is rare artist, who has his unique style of painting. This Jabalpur based artist has painted Lataji & Gandhiji in a very different manner for which his name is registered by 3 famous recording institutions. Asia Book of Records, India Book of Records & Limca Book of Records, all 3 have conferred him certificates & honoured him for his unusual achievement. This is his 9th solo exhibition. He has earlier exhibited in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore & Jabalpur in solo & group exhibitions. 

Now let's write about his special & unique style. In one painting of Lataji he has painted 930 faces of famous women, who have contributed in their respective field. Collecting data of 930 women personalities with their images is itself a huge task & painting them in miniature style in background is another. Apart from this he has painted LATA letters also & Lataji's portrait in foreground. In another painting he has painted all felicitations of Lataji by famous personalities happened in her entire  life at background & Lataji in foreground. 

While painting Gandhiji in same way, he has painted 230 patriots of Gandhi's contemporaries at background & Gandhiji in foreground, trying to depict that Gandhiji was main source of inspiration for them. Here also collecting data of 230 patriots & their images is difficult task & painting them is another. He has painted all his paintings in oil on canvas medium with skill & commendable patience. There are many paintings on Lataji hence this show is titled "चित्रलतिका ". Apart from Lataji & Gandhiji artist has painted other subjects also like Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman, Lord Ram-Seeta, Lord Buddha, Mother Teresa, little girls & others.

Press Release

From: 5th February to 8th February 2022

“Chitra Latika”

An Exhibition of oil Paintings by Jabalpur based artist Ramkripal Namdev

VENUE:

P.L. Deshpande Art Gallery

Ravindra Natya Mandir, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025

Timing: 11am to 7pm. 

As he has intentionally overlapped much of the surface. I think Ravindra subconsciously tries to show it in a subtle manner.

 ‘Living in Mumbai, being and experiencing the fast lifestyle, observing the overlapping visuals while commuting by local trains and buses of the people packed in the limited space and colors of the fabric they wear, and while going around the City - the slums, buildings, walls crumbling, rusted hoardings, scratches, walls cracks, drops of water and flow of liquid, trees, leaves, geometrical forms shapes, roads, and many other elements forms visual frames of composition and embedded in my subconscious mind. These stimulate and inspire me to draw and paint. Also, my interaction with children, juveniles, and or otherwise, their emotions, psychological and social issues, et al. are part of my subconscious memory which influences my work. My paintings are pure visual experiences that are to be seen by the viewer’, says Ravindra.

 

Artist:     Ravindra Pawar

This is Mumbai and Ravindra has been living here for years, working with the Juveniles. He has been interacting with these Juveniles who have been labeled as difficult to discuss the various ups and downs of their life. I think Ravindra's brilliant use of colours, powerful strokes, different shapes and lines, transparency, roughness has really come a long way wherein he subconsciously depicts all that he has observed and perceived through his art.

 

The fields of geometrical forms and colors transport one to the Color-Field Abstract Expressionist movement. The play of color on the psyche of humans is as primitive as is man, and so is the therapeutic value of colors which has a very deep impact on our minds and psychological wellbeing. Expressing through Art that which cannot be spoken heals the deeper held aspects of our emotions and traumas thereon healing the being. 

 

Ravindra’scolor palette is vivid, darks, earthy, muted, neutrals, and cool. The forms, lines, overlapping and revealing underlying colors, the powerful application of the medium, speak an unspoken narrative that has impacted him deeply and vividly. The use of complementary, analogous and monochromes to express his varying emotions and inspirations enhance the artwork evoking the viewer’s senses to indulge in the visual melody.

 

Ravindra’s colours present a good degree of emotion through their tones and shades while the gestures are presented by the brush stokes, breaking lines and moving forms. His, every composition has a stance, an elegance and a dominant position in the space that is suggestive in some way. Even though the artist does not ponder around a particular subject, yet the different visuals leave a deep impact of experiences only through pure visuals. Hence, for the artist and the viewer, it is an act of feeling, connecting and being impacted rather than simply viewing it.

 

Recent work by Ravindra Pawar 

Ravindra’s visual compositions appear to be quiet, but they are sharp and energetic. His paintings are a visual poetry with a good balance of simplicity and complexity with myriad ideas, moods and feelings that his colours suggest. Despite a sense of lack of certainty, there is a great silent gesture on the surface and an unheard emotion captured through colours and abstract forms. Both of these elements have the power to define a purpose to make his work look great for his viewer. 

 

His paintings has a different depth of colours. As he has intentionally overlapped much of the surface. I think Ravindra subconsciously tries to show it in a subtle manner.

 There he is! Looking like he is embracing 'Nirvana'. He wants to hide away a lot of memories, previous circumstances... Pain. He wants to live his life to fullest and make the most of it.

 At this exact moment Rekhta comes into the picture. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, it's all scattered but eventually all of it fall in the right place. These various shades of colours holds holds everything in place. Merging all elements of lines, shapes, shades of colours etc.

 

That's Ravindra for you who sees all these scattered things and then goes to on tries to keep things in order, in the right place!

From: 8^th to 14^th February 2022

“Rekhta”

Phrases of the Mystical Ensemble

Solo show of Paintings

By well-known artist Ravindra Pawar

 

VENUE:

Jehangir Art Gallery

161- B, M.G. Road

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400 001

Real within Reality—Ethics of my beloved work - my Painting.

In order to increase the better values of our lives and society -there must be a better medium – which set at naught many undesirable things, which we are accustomed in every waking moment of our lives. True to my belief, from core of my heart – PAINTING is that medium, which can evolve as a better pathway of social regeneration, when our poverty of Philosophy is eradicated.

Artist: Pratyusha Mukherjee

Painting is my first love – being an offspring of a middle- classed conservative family, I enjoyed nature, sky, flowers, birds and animals out of my windows since my early childhood and all these reflect on my paintings--- particularly, nature is embedded intimately with my creations----though, from time to time, with transformed landscape, along with inner most spaces of extreme interior of ever known sweet home –I used to wander on various aspects of theme with ease.   

Since childhood, I do have a distinct knowledge regarding social life, science, humanity, mutual respect and values, i.e. Reality of different aspects of life, which helped me a lot in combining classical & postmodern technique of painting in my own works.

To observe and nurture nature was my obsession--- which in later stage, gradually becomes my technique of searching nature within my art works.

Recent works by Artist 

Rabindranath Tagore is my pathfinder, philosopher and guide--- I’m a great admirer of his poems, songs, stories, novels & obviously paintings ----- I do have enormous influence from works of Tagore, Indian Classical Music, changing style of evaluation of visual evidence of history and time along with civilization-----all my painting works are based from all these!

I’m really thankful to Kala- Bhawana, because of its entire open education system and its acquaintance with world art, which helped me enormously to express myself independently in the entire aspect of my painting.

Background of my landscape reflects ever changing hardship of daily life style combining with dreamy fantasy world. My surrounding comes through my colour and brush to present a translucent effect of inside and outside along with juxtaposition of line, colour, texture and space division with multiple elements of nature and modern gadgets. 

                                          

Rainbows of my creation glittered across the historical stairs of ages and denotes the essence of sense of wellbeing, associated with various architectural motives.It is true that volume of animal kingdom, as well as obviously human being’s existence is too negligible in comparison to vast universe------ through our various scientific inventions and its day to day effect, yields detrimental effect in nature’s natural functioning – nature’s ecological balance appears to be dismantled.Multiple perspective of Miniature paintings, which creates enormous volume and vast expansion and architectonic quality… in the small surface area appears spontaneously in my painting. 

I would like to emphasize through my works that there is no rivalry,  no conflict between nature’s own creation and scientific upliftment – it should proceed hand in hand!

We should remember “old is gold” in one hand – and “Rolling stone gathers no moss” in other! 

My painting synchronizes values of past with enthusiasm of present, experience of past with efficacy of present, honestly of past with accuracy of present, legacy of past which leads to new rays of hope of present…in a nutshell, humanity with scientific advancement.

- Text by Artist - Pratyusha Mukherjee

Solo show 

www.nippongallery.com

                                   

Apply Open call- Kolkata

 

Responses I Inquiries I Reactions, a solo art exhibition by Shanthi Kasiviswanathan a visual

 Responses I Inquiries I Reactions, a solo art exhibition by Shanthi Kasiviswanathan a visual

artist from Mumbai opens 

on 1st February at The Jehangir Art Gallery, Fort, Mumbai at 11am. The

exhibition dates are 1st February to 7th February 2022, timings 11 am – 7 pm.

A special music performance by vocalist Ms. Meena Jinturkar will take place on 5

th February at 5pm. Through this note Shanthi extends a warm welcome to all for her exhibition.

Shanthi’s second solo, is a culmination of work made during the pandemic.The events in her life and that of others during the pandemic, led her to examine her own life in relation to the larger canvas of life. She realised that her experiences in life resonated with others as well. Whilst personal, her experiences are also universal.

Jehangir Art Gallery

The last two years brought about a significant shift in her work. Being homebound for the most part, her medium of expression shifted from photography to drawing and painting.

This exhibition puts forward four distinct series, each reflecting different aspects of her recent development: a narrative on her parents in her drawings, nature’s revival in her sky paintings, power and control in the collaborative sculptural pieces and her thoughts and emotions through the wall series interventions.Before the pandemic, she was photographing the overlooked beauty of deteriorating walls of different cities which resulted in her first solo Enduring I Ephemeral at Artisan’s Gallery Mumbai. (https://www.mid-day.com/mumbaiguide/things-to-do/article/Concrete-as-canvas-21715199)

About the artist:

Shanthi Kasiviswanathan is a visual artist and photographer based in Mumbai, India. She switched from a corporate career to pursue her passion in visual arts at 40 and has been practicing since graduating from the Sir J.J. School of Fine Arts in 2015. Her work, a compelling invitation to see things differently is influenced by her own innate nature to question the status quo. Observation is key to her work and it can be seen in her photographic works, her drawings, her paintings and more recently her maiden foray into sculpture, in collaboration with fellow artists. You can see her work at www.shanthikasi.com

VENUE:

Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road,

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001

Timing: 11am to 7pm

The progressive journey of the painter, Mr Ashok Dhivare, has been moving forward through a variety of forms and mediums like nature painting, abstract style and cityscape.

 As the changing forms of nature leave their reflections on a painter’s mind it begins to give shapes to them.  Really speaking, it is a just thought emerging in his consciousness; simultaneously, however, it becomes an inner conflict rooted in his mind.  A process to search for form in an object begins at the centre of an individual’s mind. This process is highly individualistic and deep but it is equally obscure.

 

The presence of an object in nature is stable as well as unstable and forward-moving; this in fact is an unending, ongoing process. It is the way of the world; in a way, it is the way the world behaves. ‘The Eternal’ is an exhibition of paintings meant to present this thought. It is a search for the eternal existence of the self in the brisk-paced happenings and the fast deterioration of human values taking place around us.

 

The progressive journey of the painter, Mr Ashok Dhivare, has been moving forward through a variety of forms and mediums like nature painting, abstract style and cityscape. The paintings in this exhibition belong to the category of ‘Nature painting.’ The artist has consciously used watercolours as a medium. 

 

The moisture of the mind’s sensitivity and its subtlety for the moments escaped is noticeable in them in addition to a feeling of being lost. 

The human images in these paintings are indistinct and unclear. The structures and leftover remains of constructions around them force us to search for the eternal. The use of time and space keeps haunting our minds as these paintings begin to overpower us by coming closer and establishing an uncanny relation with us. These paintings give a distressed call to the past and present of the fall and decay we experience inside us.

 

Raju Desale

From: 1^st to 7^th February 2022

“The Eternal”

An Exhibition of Watercolor Paintings

By well-known artist Ashok Namdeo Dhivare

 

 

VENUE:

Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road,

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001

Timing: 11am to 7pm

Sharmila makes paintings to be reckoned with. Her largely abstract canvases and wild seaside landscapes can be broody, even confrontational, in earthy dark tones.

 At first glance, the bold patterns in Sharmila Gupta’s recent paintings and drawings appear to mark a change in direction from the large gritty paintings of tidal pools that were her last body of work. On further viewing, it becomes apparent that her familiar landscapes have become compressed into signs or ideograms. These perhaps reflect time spent in walks in the woods during the lockdown when she made a study of aboriginal bark as well as the abstract lineage of modernism. Sharmila’s new paintings light up the exhibition space. She moves easily between representational and abstract imagery, and she mixes seemingly contradictory inclinations. For example, her process is messy and engaged, but her compositions are deliberate and playful; her work shifts suddenly from somber to slapstick; she has a sincere belief in painting’s transcendent power.

Artist: Sharmila Gupta

The intimate, explorative body of work exposes her complex interaction with a particular place and it’s shifting transient nature. Sharmila has often spoken about rejecting the picturesque in favor of primordial nature as represented. She has found these necessary elemental motifs. At the edge of water and land, she has become immersed in the visceral experience of light, space and motion. There she has sought to bridge the atmospheric, volumetric world of matter and its equivalence in signs. Landscape thus becomes an arena not only to view the fleeting nature of the elements with its seasonal and biological cycles but also a vessel for thought and process within the context of various pictorial languages.

Sharmila makes paintings to be reckoned with. Her largely abstract canvases and wild seaside landscapes can be broody, even confrontational, in earthy dark tones. But many of these paintings sparkle with brilliant blues, and cheery greens, reds, and yellows. Darker colors crop up and provide terrific contrast. Sharmila completed her part-time course in painting from Sir J J School of Art and since then she has continually challenged herself, grappling with form in oils water-colours and collages; with space and surface in abstract painting and art history. One thing has remained constant her delight in the elemental quality of paint. She’s like a kid with finger paints, or making mud pies. She fills her canvases with smears, dollops, and grit. Her passion can’t be missed.

In her current suite of works some of her former complex spatial panoramas with their diverse vantage points and horizon lines remain. Sharmila, however, has often changed her viewing perspective. At times, she has vicariously crawled along the surface of the earth or seen things as a fish traversing water or as a bird from above or a combination of different vantage points in the same painting, a vertical panoramic space is grounded by two trees uniting land, fire, water and sky seen both from above and at the horizon. By contrast, Sharmila Gupta reveals a flatter, condensed spatial world of water patterns containing floating interactive shapes. Viewed from above, a brown form hovers over incoming and outgoing tides acting as a magnifying glass revealing particles of pollution. This pivotal form compresses the action of nature and shield shapes reminiscent of the mapping of water trails found in aboriginal painting.

Sign language becomes even more evident in small watercolor drawings that evoke musical exercises with their motifs and recapitulations of the ebb and flow of tides: times of day amidst floating objects pulled by currents. Sharmila has stated that all her abbreviations of shapes and forms come from acute observation of particular sites. Her drawings reflect these observations of a sea world with undulating patterns, horizontal and vertical lines that act as cross currents creating pulsating tensions. Sharmila subverts our expectations of space. Despite the horizon line, we appear to have a bird’s-eye view. The piece’s crackling rhythm, intoxicating tones, and the artist’s loose, playful hand make the works a joyful exclamation. These dense, expansive little nature-scapes gleam like gemstones.

Sharmila’s quest to reassemble pictorial language from a diverse painting vocabulary is no easy task. Throughout her long career she has searched for ways to meld the painterly traditions of Abstract Expressionism. Over the past decades she has been moving back and forth between both pictorial concepts, sometimes emphasizing her love of light and expressive painterly forms, other times using abbreviated signs, and sometimes managing to simultaneously employ both modes. In her painting series, she combined ideograms, patterns that interact with volumetric shapes and atmospheric moods. The exhibition shows a good introduction to her innovative merging of the physical tactile world with a formal language of signs, ideograms and pictographs, expanding the painter’s language in this time.  

Abhijeet Gondkar

January 2022, Mumbai

Artist's Statements...

Myself, Sharmila Gupta, an abstract painter. My artwork includes oil on canvas, acrylic on canvas and paper. 

Passionate about painting I create whatever I perceive after observing the environment around me. I interprete the cosmos of colour and form through my visualisation to express them uniquely.

Perseverance and expedition has shifted the quality of my works and opened a new realm off possibilities and offered me with a different context of painting and my relationship to it's process.

Sharmila Gupta.

Artist

From: 31st January to 6th February 2022

"Forms of Musing"

An Exhibition of Paintings

By artist Sharmila Gupta

VENUE:Jehangir Art Gallery

161-B, M.G. Road Kala Ghoda, Mumbai – 400 001Timing: 11am to 7pm