Digressing Domains

Rashika Ojha visits the recently concluded exhibition, Digressing Domains at LKA, New Delhi and feels that the show could have been edited a little bit so that even the digressions would have made much difference.

Our walks of life, sphere of work, values all define our individual domains. This could be our own chosen domain or could be something inherited or levied on us. And in both the cases we negotiate with our domains, either we do so by being within domains or by digressing. The intent remains the same to be little different from the regular and redefine oneself; a natural tendency of any creative process is to move into a completely different arena. This movement of artists from their defined areas into new levels of creativity while negotiating with different spheres was seen in the works of 48 artists in the exhibition Digressing Domains, which was on display at Rabindra Bhavan, Lalitkala Akademi for almost two weeks. Organized by the Nitranjali Art Gallery and conceptualized by Sushma Bahl, the exhibition offered a display of undercurrents and over layers of diversity.  

To live in a social set up means to follow its norms and stick to them because a social set up is defined by its social codes. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s social contract refers to this abidance as submission to common good as “each individual is under implicit contract to submit his own will to the general will". An individual moulds himself/herself according to the framework of the general will but seldom do we see vice-versa in practice. And this rare phenomenon is experienced in this exhibition where the 150 works attempt to redefine society on individual terms. These multiple definitions are just like the manifold interpretations and complications of Individualism.

Three floors of the Rabindra Bhavan flanked by 150 interpretations of ‘digression’ was a platform of contestations of ideas, conflicting opinions, different languages and spheres to explore the mental chores of an individual. Ankit Patel’s free flowing sculptures Freedom, Born to be Free, I’m the Champion and It’s my star strive for liberation. Here Ankit Patel tries to be himself realizing his dreams through his artistic expression away from any control. Whereas Sakshi Gupta wants to break free from the self because self is a confinement of anxiety and uneasiness for her. Chillies that we add into our regular meals, she sees that as a red burning cage.
 
Akbar Padamsee’s untitled faces of man and woman overshadow the physicality highlighting the creative expression. In the strong display of pain and sensuality, the obvious socially significant differences remained ignored in Padamsee’s renditions i.e. the gender difference. On the other hand this physicality is celebrated in Kanchan Chander’s painted and embellished torsos. Seema Kohli beautifully inverts the myth of globe held on the shoulders of Atlas to establish that the golden womb of existence is in possession of the female race. Here she digresses by emphasis on the often considered trivial aspect of human existence; procreation.

 The exhibition as a whole brings together all mediums of expression, incorporating beautifully all types whether well known or just emerged modes of expression.  Textile representation of Amita Prasher Gupta or the ceramic works of Kristine Michael, deliver a concern about ethnicity and newness. This uncovers our movement from the domain of oil painting only as art work to the present where art is an all encompassing sphere. Zakkir Hussain’s watercolours interest the viewer with the surreal imagery and boldness expression. Pradeep Puthoor’s canvas and watercolours also present vibrant imaginations.
 
 This exhibition redefined art as “art for art’s sake”. Any piece of work is art because it is a product of an individual’s mental capacities. Rajesh Kumar Sharma’s work uses charpoy, slate, wheeled toys as they are fast disappearing, rediscovering roots of India and Brijkul Deepak too follows the same vision by using fiber. Moving in the Galleries of Rabindra Bhavan I realized the fluidity in distinctions that we come across in everyday life, distinctions in our social, political and cultural lives.

But the flaw within the format of the exhibition was its unlimited range that tends to dilute the entire concept, because the concept of digression included almost everything but then it was left unclear what was the nature of digression. If I stray away from almost everything then that excludes everything, so then it is a state of negation and not digression. A curated exhibition needs to have a common thread throughout else it just remains a spectrum of work. To view any art work within the spectrum of the theme is to see the artists and the curator’s vision in confluence. Artists distinct visions were displayed clearly in all works like Satish Gupta’s I am Shiva, I am Shakti, digresses by exhibiting the amalgamation of harmony and spirituality. But the confluence was missing.

“Reader, I think proper, before we proceed any farther together, to acquaint thee that I intend to digress, through this whole history, as often as I see occasion, of which I am myself a better judge than any pitiful critic….”    The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; by Henry Fieldings

The above sentence from Henry Fieldings oeuvre explains the meaning of digress, one can digress from a context and when the context is as vast as for this exhibition, will surely lead to complications of no measure. Hence it did, but the challenging attempt definitely carves a new wave in the art world.