Landscapes: The Crucial & The Curious

Vipul Prajapati & Debashish Dutta

A two-man exploration of Art as a means of gaining perspective

Our perspectives shape our visions and motivations, through which we see the physical landscapes around us and also create parallel ideological landscapes in our minds. Understanding this and digging within the layers of our mindsets is the by-product and in fact duty of art. It is an exploration that is both curious and crucial. Breaking away from traditional depictions in order to change the landscape of context is something both Prajapati and Dutta specialize in, both literally and metaphorically. 

 Dutta, on a somber note, has attempted to create an awareness of the rapidly increasing imbalance in our physical natural environment, through the abstract and miniature depiction of man in its context. For him, this is a crucial symbolism of man’s powerlessness when confronted by a larger more overwhelming perspective. Prajapati on the other hand has played around with multiple mediums to change the context of ordinary daily objects by reinventing their usage and making them into a subject of his abstraction. He goes on to paint an actual visual landscape on to them to represent his curious artistic probe and add story-tale like value to otherwise meaningless stuff. 

 Through these practices, both artists individually explore art as an opportunity to create a space where perspective, no matter how seemingly insignificant, or misunderstood, could become a part of a larger discourse on meaning-making and play a significant role in driving awareness on deeper levels. Ultimately, the shape of the landscape is forever changing; the aspiration is to ensure that we retain the curiosity to explore this change, and the courage to challenge it when it is most crucial. 

Curated by Sanjana Shah

(Monday, November 11 - Sunday, November 24)

Boomerang

Michal Raz | Viraj Mithani

Boomerang - the act of re-appearing or returning from a direction that is opposite. There is both a sense of familiarity and momentum to the boomerang effect - it tends to return faster, closer, and bigger. The phenomena is present on micro and macro levels of the exhibition. Revisiting the past, the exhibition is a contemporary take on ancient India’s texts and traditions of art making.

Michal Raz is an Israeli born and London based artist who has experienced India through her travels and reading about its culture. In contrast, Viraj Mithani has spent his academic career overseas, but was born and resides in Mumbai. Boomerang is a harmonious meeting point where their worksare presented side by side for the first time. Arriving at the same subjectfrom opposite experiences, both artists tackle their individual confrontations,reflections and learnings of India within their works yet stay loyal to theirstylistic trajectories.

Raz and Mithani capitalise on a bold colour palette and processes of layering to produce a body of work that might be two-dimensional in nature, yet evokea sense of fluidity and momentum. On the one hand Mithani stylisticallyrevives motifs and tales through representation, his artworks can be readlike leaflets of a book where narratives come alive. On the other hand, Razrejects narratives and playfully toys with semiotics, leaving hidden meanings, metaphors and symbols through her work. Familiar visual associations with ‘traditional India’ boomerang in front of us, but will we be able to place them?

Curated by Sneha Shah, Curaty London

(Friday, September 20 - Friday, October 20)

A photographer captures a moment in time for eternity, and when that image is able to convey ‘the emotion’ captured therein to the viewer, it becomes a work of art. Being deeply passionate about India, it was a pleasure to curate Independent@73  - a show that explores the question of ‘who we are’ through the lenses of the most renowned photographers in our country.

The themes are varied - ranging from celebrating the emerging modern woman to documenting the ever-increasing income divide between the haves and the have nots, showcasing our monumental heritage and modern infrastructure marvels, documenting the power of prayer and issues like the water crisis or transgenders, or simply cherishing our bountiful wildlife and sport.

Photo journalistic and documentary styles share space with fashion photography and portraiture. We hope to take you on a visual journey, to both experience and to own a moment, and an emotion via photography as a medium of art, this World Photography Day. This show is an attempted dialogue between the camera and the audience, evoking many responses and celebrating a sense of true Independence and Freedom of Expression.

Curated by Sapna Kar

(Monday, August 19 - Friday, September 13)

Save The Tiger

Ingrained deeply, knitted together with human life since forever. They existed in dense population in human proximity, hence their presence is consistently felt across diverse art forms such as Gond and Warli painting. Tiger is a powerful symbol of dignity, ferocity and will power, together amalgamating into a representation of strength. The Chinese, Egyptian, Korean, Roman and Indian art are a few examples (from many) that have warmly welcomed and celebrated them in their expressions. Unfortunately, the continuous hunting of the tigers as well as the shrinking of greener patches due to deforestation has almost brought the tigers to the threshold of becoming extinct. At the right moment however, with the Indian Government’s conscious efforts towards creating awareness, the human race does realize the stinging fact that the jungle without the roar of these majestic cats would be like a garden without its flower bed.

This show is an attempt to celebrate an undeniable emblem of power, strength, beauty and eternal aristocracy. Through a beautiful series of painted masks, momentarily captured sharp shots and realistic paintings, we make the viewer whisper a prayer that, “May the magnetic, dynamic, wild cat always be present amidst our thick forests and forever be loved as a precious and irreplaceable member of the family.

Curated by Fawad Tamkanat

(Thursday, July 25 - Monday, August 12)

Form (Form-less) Less

“But we nonetheless intend to put the formless to work, not only to map certain trajectories, or slippages, but in some small way to “perform” them.” 

- Yve-Alain Bois, The Use Value of “Formless”

There is a constant search for a moment in contemporary Indian art, for a unique value that is believed to only, perhaps, be deciphered by pulling apart, or breaking down existing structures of visuality. This comes from, what now feels like, an age-old binary between “form” and “content”. Whereas the former is oftentimes seen as a concern with the “how” something is created, the latter is seen engaging with the “why”; the former with structure, the latter with meaning, and so on. The attempt with this exhibition is to pull away from said binary, towards a space where an “operation” could take place. An operation then, being concerned with both form and content, but also existing outside of each, as a space where the performance of art could take place. We have brought together several digital, and material artists, who we feel function within this space of the operation; where each artist showcased is, in their own way, moving towards a performance of the “formless”. The formless, then, would be the space of/for operation, where artists engaged with materiality, digital, or otherwise, could converse.

Curated by Ronojoy Sircar

(Friday, June 21 - Sunday, July 14) 

Words of Silence

When we look at any work of art we try to understand it through words, these words are in turn provoked by the images we are looking at. These are silent words that are provoked during an interactive dialogue with the work of art. Just like this, all images are continuously being translated in to words and all words signal an image. This relationship between words and images are ever lasting and synergistic. The manner in which these interpretations are inspired in the mind, almost effortlessly, is the beauty of any work of art. It stimulates a language to understand, to make a relationship with the unknown. This is an unfolding of the mystery created by an artist. 

In this group exhibition there are painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramists and some installation artists too. Zarina Hashmi is well known for her search through the memory of lines and forms of her lost paradise i.e. her home. Contrastingly, Sheetal Gattani's wanderings are always with a sense of surprise, allowing the viewer to explore the tones and its delicate variations in their own way. Sharad Sonkusale and Nitish Bhattacharjje play with a more geometric and organic approach towards forms. Divya Patwa works with animals and creating awareness through her bold and practical expression, while on the other hand Durgaprasad bandi is more concerned with shaking the existing image of the world around him. Despite the show being so varied in concepts and mediums, all of the works communicate something personal to the viewer. Each takeaway, interpretation and understanding is different. Through this show we invite people to come and communicate with the art through the eternally important Words of Silence. 

Curated by Akhilesh

(Saturday, April 20 - Friday, May 10)

The Allure of India

Miniature Paintings - Company Style

Dutch, French & British East India Companies

The exhibition, The Allure of Indiaby Dr. Seema Bhalla, explores Company Indian Miniatures. This exquisite art form, set in motion in the 16th century, today stands on the verge of extinction in the 21st century, when there is an increased global awareness to save our heritage for future generations. Now, one final time, a few of the remaining artists have come together to create a re- contextualized oeuvre of twenty five exquisite works. Each, based on academic research, is a visual narrative of documented history, highlighting two sophisticated arts – Indian Miniature painting and Textiles.

Curated by Seema Bhalla

(Tuesday, April 2 - Thursday, April 18)

Subverting Duchamp, Celebrating Beauty, Reconnecting with Mumbai by Shakti Maira

When a philosopher and contemplative thinker looks at his work created over the years, he finds that he has consciously worked on a thematic discourse of sorts, traversing time and space and materials. Through varied combinations of universal but personally resonant themes, in this landmark retrospective exhibition, Shakti Maira unravels his vision across two definitive decades and a full range of media. Sculptures, paintings, drawings, and scrolls that are placed in dialogue with one another reveal the breadth and consistency of his sensibility after moving back to India in 2001 from the US, and draw us into the world of a solitary genius.

- Uma Nair, Formed in the Crucible of Time

Curated by Shakti Maira

(Thursday, February 28 - Thursday, March 28)