 Diversity in Unity
Sujata Bajaj at Palette Art Gallery
Palette Art Gallery of Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna is famous for its experimentations within the parameters of conventional gallery practice. It showcases different styles of art from different age groups. The recently concluded Annual show of the gallery had raised a few eyebrows for its adherence to the senior level artists in it. Though in the ongoing season it had presented the youngsters like Sunil Mamdapur, Anil Kumar Janardhanan, Binoy Varghese and Pratul Dash, they were not featured in the annual show. It was purely a veterans’ show. However, with a solo show of Sujata Bajaj, the gallery has proved that its agenda remains the same; we are here to showcase the youngsters, mid career artists and the established ones without any discrimination.
Sujata Bajaj - Radiance1 & Radiance2
Sujata Bajaj is one of the women artists who diligently follow the language of abstraction. She belongs to the school of philosophy developed by the veteran artist, S.H.Raza. Sujata’s paintings throb with the strokes of reds, blues, yellows. She incorporates Sanskrit texts within her pictorial format in order to assert her affiliation to the indigenous philosophical thinking. The scriptures become a part of design rather than direct reference to certain issues, as seen in the works of Raza done during the nation building time. A catalogue essay contributed by the art critic and columnist Uma Nair locates the practice of Sujata Bajaj within the context of Indian abstraction. She connects Sujata’s works to the scientific thoughts and proves that her works are not just illogical daubing of colours on canvas.
Prof.Sivakumar and Gulam Mohammed Sheikh on
Benode Behari Mukherjee
Details from the Mural Medieval Saints by Benode Behari Mukherjee
Benode Behari Mukherjee |
Those people in Delhi who look a little above and below the market graphs of the artists got feast of ideas when they attended two lectures by Prof.R.Sivakumar and Prof.Gulam Mohammed Sheikh at the National Gallery of Modern Art auditorium. Organized as a part of the ongoing retrospective of Benode Behari Mukherjee curated by the abovementioned scholars these lectures opened up new windows to look at the late artist’s works.
Prof. Sivakumar lectured on the life and times of Benode Behari Mukherjee taking the landscape paintings of the artist as a point of departure. He brought in the peculiarities of the landscape in real and the same as seen in the works of B.B.Mukherjee. He gave pointers to look at those works in relationship with the nationalist fervor prevalent amongst the artists of the time. Sivakumar ably handled questions came from the audience, which were obviously meant to provoke the scholar.
Gulam Mohammed Sheikh conducted a Gallery Tour and explained two major murals done by B.B.Mukherjee in Santiniketan. The mural seen at the ceiling of the Boys Hostel in Kalabhavana and the famous ‘Medieval Saints’ done at the walls of the Hindi Bhavan were discussed in this tour. Despite the poor eyesight, while working on the Boys Hostel mural, B.B.Mukherjee was brimming with a new found energy and love as he was about to get married at that point of time, and the happiness was very much evident in the mural, Sheikh observed. About the Medieval Saints, Sheikh observed that the artist had a great task before him as there was no ‘cartoon’ done and Mukhejee had to work the images on a ‘two feet a day’ basis. It took almost two years to finish (1945-1947). He compared the mural with the ‘birth of nation’.
In the presence of the NGMA Director, Prof. Rajeev Locah, Sheikh said that the NGMA did not have enough wall space to accommodate the replica of the mural in its exact size. Also he said that the mural is in a deteriorating condition that someone should come forward to raise the national conscience on this issue. The famous architect and heritage restorer Aman Nath was amongst the audience and he said he would take the initiative. Looking at the narrative peculiarities of the Medieval Saints, a girl, obviously with feminist leanings asked Sheikh why there were no women saints in B.B.Mukherjee’s scheme. Sheikh told her that despite all the theories made on this issue, the question remains an enigma till date.
LaVA comes to New Delhi
Bose Krishnamachari’s LaVA (Laboratory of Visual Arts) finally makes it to New Delhi. LaVA was supposed to be in Delhi by December last. Bodhi Art Gallery, which hosts the show, had to down the shutters of its official space thanks to the ceiling drive undertaken by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Now Bodhi has a space at the Travancore Palace to function from. Hence, LaVA will be seen at the Travancore Palace from 23rd February. With its New Delhi exposition, LaVA will be officially concluded as an art project.
Atul Bhalla’s Yamuna Project Concludes
Atul Bhalla concluded his project on Yamuna River by walking along the shores of the river covering the areas between Palla in North and Kalindi Kunj in South. He and an intern from the Khoj walked around four days to cover the distance. This journey is documented in photo stills. “It was quite rigorous. When the huge drain pipes lay across the path, I climbed up the sides and come to the road and walked till the pipeline is over. But I stuck to the river bed through out. It was a revealing experience,” Atul Bhall says. The stills of his walk are exhibited in the Khoj Project Space.
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