The Guild is delighted to announce our upcoming multidisciplinary exhibition, BLUE Chapter 1, curated by Nitesh Mohanty and Riyas Komu. Join us in this journey through a single color - Blue - to explore the essence of art and life. Blue is not just a pigment, but a doorway to the world around, beyond and within. Through blue we can explore the enigma of perception, the emotional power of colour, and the ineffable in art.
Its evocations are myriad: blue carries the hues of history, transcends language, connects culture, symbolises religion, evokes spirituality, and invokes authority. It is sea and sky, water and poison; calmness, sorrow, and introspection. Meditation upon a single hue unravels the nature of existence itself.
BLUE will feature collaborations with Anna Atkins, Adil Jussawalla, Rabindranath Tagore, Ayaz Basrai, Hanif Kureshi, Vijila, Arun Vijai Mathavan, Sunil Nampu, K. K. Muralidharan, Dr. Ramesh Kumar, Sudharak Olwe, N. N. Rimzon, Vivek Vadoliya, K. P. Reji, Nelson Viji, Vikrant Bhise, Amruta Patil, Anpu Varkey, Achal Mishra & Mahak Gupta, Dilip Chitre, Tajdar Junaid, Dhwani Shah, Shiva Nallaperumal, Yogesh Maitreya, Hari Katragadda, Mayur & Tushar Vayeda, Swati Dandekar, Varsha Devjani, Sameer Kulavoor, and Midhun Mohan.
The exhibition previews on Sunday, 20 October, from 12 noon to 4 pm, and continues until the 1st of January, 2025. We hope to see you there!
About The Guild
The Guild was established in 1997 with an aim to function as a semi-institutional space within the bustling art-hub of Mumbai, India. Since its inception, it has been providing a platform for discursive practices, innovation and experimentation in contemporary art. The Guild represents artists of diverse generations who have brought in robust dialogue within and across their disciplines. The Gallery has held major retrospectives of K. P. Reji, Sudhir Patwardhan, Navjot Altaf and G. R. Iranna in collaboration with premier national art centres.
The gallery has published a number of books with essays by preeminent critics and curators on contemporary Indian artists, such as Sudhir Patwardhan, Navjot Altaf, Jyoti Bhatt, K.G. Subramanyan, A. Ramachandran and T. V. Santhosh, amongst others.
About the curators
Riyas Komu (b. 1971) is an Indian multimedia artist. His oeuvre of works is a deep reflection on social conflicts and pressing issues like migration and displacement, whereas he draws his inspiration from local and global social and political movements. He has exhibited his works worldwide, including the Venice Biennale.
Komu’s curatorial engagement ranges across fields. He ideated Kochi-Muziris Biennale and co-founded Kochi Biennale Foundation (est. 2010). He co-curated the first edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2012 and was the Director of Programmes of the Kochi Biennale Foundation in 2012, 2014, and 2016. He also curated the Kondotty Sufi Fest in 2019. He co-curated the first International Football Film Festival in India at Goa International Film Festival and Trivandrum International Film Festival in 2012. In 2016 he started URU Art Harbour, a cultural hub in Mattancherry, Kochi, Kerala, with Zoya Riyas, and has curated many shows to promote artists from the region focusing on Kerala’s history of social action, migration and culture. His critically acclaimed solo projects include Holy Shiver (2018), which celebrated the art in the Constitution. In 2022, he curated the Sea: A Boiling Vessel project, which puts the spotlight on our maritime history.
Nitesh Mohanty is a visual artist who works at the fluid intersection of arts, culture, media, communication, and self-reflection. His theoretical interests are also wide, often inquiring about the roots and fundamentals of art history, storytelling, and philosophy. He was the co-founder of “The Root” a platform initiated to propagate social, cultural, political & ecological concerns through various literary and creative mediums. He curated “The Root Reel” in association with Alliance Francaise, Bombay through which he showcased independent features, documentaries, world cinema & animation films from closer home & across the world, under the tagline, Films That Matter. He teaches as a visiting faculty at esteemed institutions across India such as MICA, NID, FTII, TISS, & Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology. Nitesh’s articles, essays, and interviews have been featured in newspapers & magazines, such as Mid-Day, Time-Out, Homegrown, Better Photography, Open, Outlook, Art Intent, Art India Magazine, G5A Imprint, Kindle, etc.
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