PIN POSTER : Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS

We would like to invite you to “Short Distances and Definite Places: A Brief Look at the Life and Work of William Gedney", the first event of the new exhibition that has just opened at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS. Guest Curators Margaret Sartor and Shanay Jhaveri will do a walkthrough of the exhibition on the 14th of March at 6 pm, providing us with an overview of Gedney’s life and work.



Widely acclaimed as one of the key figures of American black and white street photography, Gedney’s work deserves to be shared with a wider audience especially the in-depth work he carried out in India. Gedney in India that has recently opened to the public as part of the Focus Photography Festival hopes to do just that.



Please do join us on the 14th of March at 6 pm. Tea will be served at 5.30 pm

 

PIN POSTER : Santiniketan : Kolkata

‘Living Lines at 360⁰’by Ashok Hinge Mumbai Artist

This series of paintings ‘Living Lines at 360⁰’ is an extension and elaboration of Ashok Hinge’s earlier series ‘Living Lines’. It is a thoughtful progress in the earlier developed concept of painting common man and society work.

The concept at 360⁰ is nothing but artist’s broadened experience of the world around him. It is a meticulous observation that has now intensified, with understanding and knowing the core nature, behavior, body language and approach of all types of people  in the society.

In the process of his observation and development of this concept he has simplified the human form, as he finds and states “We are nothing but geometric figures only”. This simplification also has profundity of each painted or sketched character. Importantly, he has sublimated his characters, and this is a splendid progress. Hinge’s paintings exemplify the similarity in character that can be found in different people wherever we go; just like the artist finds them around 360⁰. Paintings also create sensation in the viewers that at least one of them is based on their own character. The artist is projecting the sweat of people, through the dripping white colour to indicate hard work for success. Though this series, Hinge has showcased subjects like family bonding, gathering, celebration, union of friends & crowded market places which create rhythmic movements in the paintings. So the visual effects of the simplified images not only seem ‘attractive to the eyes’ but also ‘strikes the mind’. 

Recent work by Ashok Hinge- Mumbai

One more development that we see in this series is: the use of colours. Now, instead of restricting to painting and sketching black and white figures, the artist has experimented with various mediums, like - ink, acrylic and water colours.  He is instigated to use colours in this series because, with times, he has realized that every personality is unique in its behavior and approach and he has highlighted it through the use of colours to bring it to your notice. Every colour speaks of the body language and psyche of the character in each image. Even the crowd of people and their mental state can be read from the sketches and the colours used. Interestingly, black and white attracted our attention to the concept of common man in society and now the addition of colours makes us read the image as individual characters. 

Those who have been following Ashok Hinge and his creation would certainly feel the ‘Freudian instinct’ foraying in him.

The exhibition is not only going to be a visual treat but a speculation of an observational excursion of artist’s mind. Let us visit and get intellectually nourished by giving a thought to the manner in which the artist cultivates his idea and elegances in his paintings to make them more enthraling.

The exhibition will be held at

Nehru Centre Art Gallery (Circular) - Discovery Of India Building, Ground Floor, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai - 400018,

From: 7th March to 13th March 2017

Between: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m

Contact: 9930103369/ 9960586014

PIN POSTER : Nehru Centre Art Gallery : Mumbai

"Bombay Black" Clark House exhibition kalaghoda art festival jehangir Art gallery 7-12 February 2017

Bombay Black occurs around the time of the Kala Ghoda festival where the disappearance of a man mounted on a horse now calls for reason to have an art festival. The square is called Kala Ghoda, though the legendary back horse now lives in the quiet communes of the Bombay Zoo. The myth of the Black Horse instigates the idea of the city of Bombay and its relationship to the colour black , where through an exhibition we construct the many lines of aesthetic and social folklores that exist around colour.

curated by Sumesh Sharma and Yogesh Barve , Clark House Initiative . Exhibition Designer Sanjay Londhe

Minutes of the Meeting | Garima Gupta Solo| Art Night Thursday Clark House Bombay

Minutes of the Meeting | Garima Gupta

Solo| Art Night Thursday

Clark House Bombay

Minutes of the meeting is a documentation of my travels from Jakarta to New Guinea, looking at Birds of Paradise as more than just an exotic curio that adorned the Cabinets of Curiosities across Europe. The drawings and short films trace the ebb and flow of ecological destruction surrounding the species in the South-East Asian and Western Pacific region.
Starting from the min 16th-century trade of exotic fauna, to being the epicentre of Dutch colonial rule in the 18th century, to today’s palm oil crisis - the birds and animals of the region have been major players in world history. Their unwitting entanglement ranged from their contribution to the spirit of scientific inquiry, right upto today’s insatiable need for food products processed with palm oil. This fascinating and tragic entanglement, often underrepresented, is the story I am sharing from 09th Feb - 08th March 2017 at Clark House Initiative. Do come!

Opening on 09/02 at 6Minutes of the Meeting | Garima Gupta |Solo| Art Night Thursday:30 pm

Walkthroughs on 12/02, 19/02, 26/02 at 5:30 pm and closing on 08/03 at 7:30 pm

Vanita Gupta : P-12 India Art Fair 2017- Delhi

More to explore with Art Heritage than just Booth B-8. Be at Project Space P12 to experience Vanita Gupta’s "Breathe In, Breathe Out: A Medley in Spatial Registers" which explores the relationship between continuity and rupture, gravity and lightness, and the potentially infinite extension of shape and the concrete finitude of mass.
#IndiaArtFair2017 #ArtHeritage

Pisurwo developed his aesthetic skills by following the contemporary school of abstract art institution.

Jitendra P Suralkar, born in 1977, also known as “Pisurwo”, is an Indian origin artist descending from Kalkheda district in the State of Maharashtra,near Ajanta cave, India. During his course of 6 years, Pisurwo developed his aesthetic skills by following the contemporary school of abstract art institution. he handled subjects Yakshya-Yakshini, triangle,king and queens,ramayana- Mahabharata period,lady godia,last supper and other.

(Artist : Pisurwo )

 

Currently, Pisurwo is showcasing his abstract form of arts into unique masterpieces by portraying multiple human behaviors in his expressive artwork theme titled: King and His Six Queens. Behind every masterpiece comes an expression of how the King constantly adapts his behaviors to those of his counterparts. A reason why his themed art gallery projects the different stages and transitions of what the King have become today, according to Pisurwo. Stories cannot be told in narration, however, but can be envisioned on canvas, a reason why Pisurwo reflects human behaviors, characteristics and emotions before the eyes of the beholder.

(Artist : Pisurwo at GalleryChemould -Mumbai )

      Pisurwo done his past exhibition Paris( villa vasillief)- London ( show room)- Sri Lanka (shadow's) - Kuwait (rahem art gallery)-afrika (Dakar biennial) - New York (contemporary biennial)- Dubai (Dubai biennial),Ireland( private space) - India ( chemould Prescott,clark house,kalaghoda festival,jehangir and other places )

Pisurwo done 160 paintings yaksha yakshani year 2006 to 2009

Yakshini (Sanskrit: याक्षिणि, also known as Yakshi and Yakkhini in Pali) are mythical beings of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain mythology. Yakshini (Yakshi) is the female counterpart of the male Yaksha, and they are attendees of Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth who rules in the mythical Himalayan kingdom of Alaka. They are the guardians of the treasure hidden in the earth and resemble fairies. Yakshinis are often depicted as beautiful and voluptuous, with wide hips, narrow waists, broad shoulders, and exaggerated, spherical breasts. In Uddamareshvara Tantra, thirty-six Yakshinis are described, including their mantras and ritual prescriptions. A similar list of Yakshas and Yakshinis are given in the Tantraraja Tantra, where it says that these beings are givers of whatever is desired. Although Yakshinis are usually benevolent, there are also yakshinis with malevolent characteristics in Indian folklore.

36 Yakshinis   

The list of thirty six yakshinis given in the Uddamareshvara Tantra is as follows:


A Yakshini. 10th century, Mathura, India. Guimet Museum.
Vichitra (The Lovely One): She bestows all desires.
Vibhrama (Amorous One)
Hamsi (The one with Swan): She reveals the whereabouts of buried treasure, and grants an unguent with which one may see through solid objects.
Bhishani (The Terrifying): The ritual is to be performed at the junction of 3 paths. The mantra is to be recited 10,000 times. Camphor and ghee are to be used as the offering. Om Aim Drim Mahamode Bhishani Dram Dram Svaha.
Janaranjika (Delighting Men): She gives great good fortune and happiness.
Vishala (Large Eyed): She gives the alchemical elixir.
Madana (Lustful): She gives a cure-all pill.
Ghanta (Bell): She gives the ability to enchant the world.
Kalakarni (Ears Adorned with Kalas):
Mahabhaya (Greatly Fearful): Protection from disease. She gives freedom from fear and the secret of alchemy, also freeing one from grey hair and signs of old age.
Mahendri (Greatly Powerful): Gives the person the ability to fly and go anywhere.One obtains Patala Siddhi.
Shankhini (Conch Girl ): Fulfilment of any desire.
Chandri (Moon Girl):
Shmashana (Cremation Ground Girl ): She gives treasure, destroys obstacles, and one is able to paralyse folk with a mere glance.
Vatayakshini: She also gives a divine and magical unguent.
Mekhala (Love Girdle):
Vikala: She yields the desired fruit.
Lakshmi (Wealth): She gives Lakshmi Siddhi, the secrets of alchemy, and heavenly treasure.
Malini (Flower Girl ): She gives Khadga Siddhi, which means being able to stop any weapon.
Shatapatrika (100 Flowers ):
Sulochana (Lovely Eyed): She gives Paduka Siddhi, enabling one to travel at great speed through the aethers.
Shobha: The Devi gives the power of full enjoyment and the appearance of great beauty.
Kapalini (Skull Girl): She gives Kapala Siddhi. She gives the power to go anywhere in the aethers in one's sleep, and also to go to any great distance away.
Varayakshini:
Nati (Actress): The Nati gives hidden treasure, an alchemical unguent, and the power of mantra yoga.
Kameshvari:
The text states these have already been described.
The text states these have already been described.
Manohara (Fascinating):
Pramoda (Fragrant):
Anuragini (Very Passionate):
Nakhakeshi:
Bhamini:
Padmini is said to be included in (35) below.
Svarnavati: She gives Anjana Siddhi.
Ratipriya (Fond of Love):

Like how a grand structure like the V. T. Station that once represented colonial power changed its meaning and became almost like the heart of the city and represented the aspirations of the people.

History Lab

 “It is about a process of understanding the history from the point of view of progress,
 

T.V. Santhosh is an artist based in Mumbai

 defined by industrial and technological advancement, and how these high points of advancement in turn become yardstick of measuring the extent of damage caused by man against its own kind and nature. History of war could be read as a parallel phenomenon, as how the weapons technology developed and how experiments were not just limited to confinement of laboratories alone, but multiple narratives of History selectively reorganised to support some propaganda in the name of truth.  And in that process, the history itself becomes a laboratory of conflict. Imageries emblematic of ideologies, power centres and time change their meaning in the course of changing times. Like how a grand structure like the V. T. Station that once represented colonial power changed its meaning and became almost like the heart of the city and represented the aspirations of the people.

                         

installation view at KMB (detail)          
wood, metal and LED timers
174” x 69” x 27” Image copyright T. V. Santhosh

 Like this how these smoke and fire spitting chimneys that were once the symbol of progress have changed their meaning if seen through new ecological perspective. In a way this work is an attempt of understanding last two centuries, reading through the high points of changes and events that eventually shaped our time.

The Protagonist and Folklores of justice        
installation view at KMB
watercolour on paper

60” x 40” (each)

Image copyright T. V. Santhosh

The Protagonist and Folklores of justice 

These works are part of my new watercolour series, extensions of my ongoing preoccupation with understanding history in relation to a process of enquiry into war and terror that shapes our perceptions of reality and ethics. Also, as a result of rediscovering my old days, when a few decades back  I used to make posters and be actively part of several street theatre productions for an organization involved in activities of political resistance.  It was one of the culturally intense phases in Kerala, in the mid 80's,  I started disbelieving in 'pure aesthetical/creative practices' and tried to meddle with the much discussed idea of art as a possible tool for social reconstructions. Now, I try to revisit those old days in order to understand it from a much larger perspective of endless ideological debate on the conflict between personal, social and political interrelationships. I started this series incorporating linguistic systems of graffiti and political posters addressing a set of questions. I call it 'eternal questions', which one can keep asking at any point of time in  history, yet, it would still be relevant. A question like "who is the real enemy?” is both philosophical and ethical in nature. In the process, works went through drastic change. Many apparent elements became obscure and the obscure became direct. Elements of posters are replaced by the elements of performance and studio photography. And images of herbal garden became the backdrop by problematizing the aspects of political posters. Like in a one-act play, the protagonist interacts with objects that determine the progress of its narrative, I meddle with the images to both subvert and uncover the intent of the questions juxtaposed with. The text that used to be an integral part of the works vanished and is replaced with lucid metaphors that can be understood by men in the street.

*   *   * 

Both the sculpture and the paintings talk about history of war and violence. While the sculpture is more about history, the paintings are more about our present. While the painting incorporate elements of political posters, graffiti and performances, or medicinal plants as backdrop as a reminder of solutions provided by nature to each issues created by man, sculpture has taken elements directly from history in a process to trace the errors committed by men against humanity.” – T. V. Santhosh
 

Born in Kerala, T.V. Santhosh received his Graduate Degree in painting from Santiniketan and Masters  in Sculpture from M. S. University,Baroda. Santhosh’s works have been shown widely in Museums and Biennales. Some of the museum shows include: Kochi-Muziris Biennale, 2016 curated by Sudarshan Shetty; 56^th Venice Biennale 2015  National Pavillion of Iran, The Great Game, Curated by Marco Meneguzzo and Mazdak Faiznia: Making History, Colombo Art Biennale, 2014; Heritage Transport Museum, curated by Priya Pall, New Delhi, 2013; WAR ZONE – Indian Contemporary Art, Artemons Contemporary,  Das Kunstmuseum, Austria, 2012; Critical Mass: Contemporary Art from India, curated by Tami Katz-Freiman and  Rotem Ruff, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, 2012; 11^th Havanna Biennial, 2012;  INDIA- LADO A LADO, curated by Tereza de Arruda, SESC  Belenzinho Sao Paulo, Brazil 2012;  India, curated by Pieter Tjabbes and Tereza de Arruda, Centro Cultural Banco do  Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2011; Rewriting Worlds, 4^th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art,  curated by Peter Weibel, 2011;  In Transition New Art from India, Surrey Museum of Art, Canada, 2011; Collectors Stage: Asian Contemporary Art from Private Collections, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2011;  Crossroads: India Escalate, Prague Biennale 5, 2011;  Empire Strikes Back, The Saatchi Gallery, London, 2010;  The Silk Road, New Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern Art from The Saatchi Gallery at Tri Postal, Lille, France, 2010; Vancouver Biennale curated by Barry Mowatt, 2010;  Dark Materials, curated by David Thorp, G S K Contemporary show, at Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2009; India Xianzai, MOCA, Shanghai, China, 2009;  Passage to India, Part II: New Indian Art from the Frank Cohen Collection, at Initial Access, Wolverhampton, UK, 2009;  Aftershock, Conflict, Violence and Resolution in Contemporary Art,  Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA Norwich, 2007;  Continuity and Transformation, Museum show promoted by Provincia di Milano, Italy, 2007.

                                                               

His select solo shows include Common Wall, Grosvenor Vadehra, London 2014, The Land, Nature Morte, Berlin 2011, Burning Flags, Aicon Gallery, London 2010, Blood and Spit, Jackshainman Gallery 2009, Living with a Wound, Grosvenor Vadehra, London 2009, A Room to Pray at Avanthay Contemporary, Zurich 2008, Countdown, Nature Morte, Delhi 2008 in collaboration with The Guild, Mumbai; Countdown, The Guild, Mumbai 2008.

Copyright © The Guild, 2016
All rights reserved

Things are vanishing before us - Premjish Achari

We live in a time when the digital and the physical are converging together in an unprecedented manner. The proliferation of screens and humanity’s addiction to it has flattened our sense of perception; it has irrevocably altered our visual experience.

( Premjish Achari )

 In our society, screens have become magical tools used by ‘augurers and haruspices’ or those who read omens in the stars, flights of birds and the entrails of animals, uncovering guilt and foreseeing the future. Through screens, we navigate the netherworld of imaginations. They have become our magic mirrors; it appears that we have formed a Faustian pact with the digital world. Software and digitised data are replacing the traditional physical dimensions of objects. We increasingly prefer Bitcoins and digitised banking rather than paper currency, digital images to printed photographs, e-books to paper books; we even seem to spend more money on our online personas. 

( Black Molasses by Aman Khanna)

Digitisation of objects, information, and emotions has irrevocably altered existing ways of knowing, doing and being. Will digital versions of objects such as artworks, photos, clothes, etc., render them obsolete? Will objects eventually shed corporeal form and become flat and virtual in the digital world? Will we define ourselves increasingly through what we consume and create in the digital space? Will our digital avatars overtake our physical selves? 

 The proposed exhibition attempts to analyse and perhaps even salvage the role of objects in our life, by paying particular attention to their ability to evoke the past through nostalgia and memory. Objects remind us of who we are, we often use them to demonstrate our identity. There is little difference between us and what we define as ours. The proliferation of software and digitised data are replacing the traditional physical dimensions of objects. In this passage of rites towards the virtual objects when things are vanishing before us I invite artists to contemplate on the function of objects, do they see this as a revolutionary paradigm shift, or do they prefer the old ways of possessing physical objects and its production more relevant in the preservation of memory and evocation of nostalgia. 

This exhibition is a key to unlock your memories. After entering this labyrinth laden with a series of objects to trigger your memories you will be able to reflect on how people interact with objects, how objects often symbolise something more than their intrinsic nature. 

-  by  Premjish Achari

Featuring:

Aman Khanna | Arti Vijay Kadam | Atul Bhalla | Chandan Gomes | Chinmoyi Patel | Dayanita Singh | Mansoor Ali| Muktinath Mondal| Nikita Maheshwary| Prajeesh A.D.| Riya Chatterjee| Roshan Chhabria| Sharmila Samant| Sumedh Rajendran| Umesh P K| Varunika Saraf| Waswo X Waswo