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The Workshop: Sculpting Together

India Fine Arts, Mumbai presents thirteen contemporary Indian artists and their sculptural renditions in a show titled ‘The Workshop’ from 13th-23rd December 2007. Art Concerns.com correspondent previews the show.

Thomas John Kovoor’s sculpture studio in Jaipur is a new Santiago for Indian contemporary artists, who are interested in casting their sculptures in bronze. This centre of sculptural pilgrimage also helps those artists who are interested in three dimensional works, but so far have not been doing it for many reasons. The production of edition based sculptures, the new fad in Indian art market, has brought so many artists to test their sculptural skills at Kovoor’s studio. An exhibition titled ‘The Workshop..’ hosted by the Mumbai based India Fine Arts Gallery features the sculptures of thirteen Indian contemporary artists. These sculptures are done at Kovoor’s studio in Jaipur and seven editions of each work are available for the art lovers.

Karl Antao, P.R.Daroz, K.Laxma Goud, Prabhakar Kolte, Thomas John Kovoor, Pritpal Ladi, Alex Mathew, Pankaj Panwar, Srinivas Reddy, N.N.Rimzon, Himmat Shah, Rajendar Tiku and T.Vaikuntam are the participating artists. Karl Antao approaches sculpture with a graphic artist’s sense of line and rhythm and his images have a playfulness about them. P.R.Daroz is a well known ceramist and for this show he has created a set of works which shows his pottery skills as well as sculptural abilities.

K.Laxma Goud has been a regular at the Kovoor studio for a long time and in this ‘Workshops, he presents his signature style works with ritualistic and decorative figures exquisitely carved made out of clay layers and later on casted in bronze. Prabhakar Kolte, though a well known painter, has commendable sculptural abilities. One of his works almost carries the rhythm and vibrancy of his abstract paintings. Thomas Koovor’s sculptures show a kind of expressionist verve tinged with an inclination to generate a narrative.

Pritpal Ladi has always made sculptures with surrealistic themes and twists. For the Workshop show too he has produced two sculptures, two  distorted box like images, one with organic extensions of an elephant head and another with a protruding mechanical device. Alex Mathew has been obsessed with the themes of the working class people in his works for a long time. This time with certain stylistic adaptations he has created a work with two men acting as beasts of burden. This resembles his early works like the Dream of Jona, Story of a Plough, the Backs (NGMA) and so on. The relief like sculpture has become more narrative in Alex Mathew’s ensemble this time.

Pankaj Panwar’s works are quirky symbols of ordinary life, showing the mundane creatures like dogs and cocks. But the artistic quirkiness provides them with extra appendages that make them look like ethereal creatures. Their bodies are textured and inscribed as if they were coming from a different land of existence. Srinivas Reddy’s human figures are totemic in appearance and they show the male-female duos.

N.N.Rimzon continues with his ‘signs of the subaltern’ in the new series also. His critique on the hierarchical social practices comes evident in these works. Though these works are not so big, they achieve monumental stature in Rimzon’s vision. Tradition and its practices are emblematically represented in Rimzon’s sculptures, which at once become icons in themselves and iconoclastic. Himmat Shah shows his proficiency in making minimal ruminating heads in the latest series also. T.Vaikuntam has created a set of heads, embodying a sense of agony in them. Rajinder Tiku’s works show the right blend of abstraction and figurative narrative. The show will be on view till 23rd December 2007.