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The United Colours of Satrang
Satrang, a group show curated by Sushma Behl and Archana Sapra stands evidence to artificially created curatorial concerns. This could have been a better show, had the curators given a little thought to the good works they had in hand, says JohnyML.
Indian curators generally fall into two categories. (First of all, the question; do we have real curators? Let us not try to find an answer for it now). One section of curators works with the ideology of groups, methods and materials. The other section goes with themes. Both attempts often gain success in finding some artists who are really interesting and thought provoking. At the same time, both these attempts have their shortcomings. While the former looks a bit noncommittal the latter finds itself in reviving dead ideas and themes. So we have thematic shows like Ardhanareeswara, Lotus, Saptarshi, ‘Feminism’, ‘Sixty years of Indian Independence’ etc. Sometimes, the themes and titles of certain shows sound and look so ridiculous that make the people run for cover.
I am very skeptical about the titles of the shows. A title can reveal the curatorial intentions. Hence, a show with the title ‘Satrang’ curated by Sushma Behl and Archana B.Sapra for the Delhi based Art Room Gallery at the India Habitat Centre did not generate an inner drive to see the show. However, the names like Subodh Kerkar, Pradeep Puthoor, Simrin M Agarwal and Sonia M Chawla raised some curiosity in me for they are friends in one or the other way. I have been following the site specific installations of Subodh Kerkar for sometime. Pradeep Puthoor, ever since he was introduced to the Delhi art circle by Sushma Behl, I have been looking at the development of his aesthetics. Simrin and Sonia were my students once upon a time when I was a part time teacher in Delhi College of Art. I do not remember whether I had taught them anything specific but they used to come and discuss their works even after I was ejected from the college for ‘creating a Baroda Group’ in the college, an allegation, which still I am unable to understand.
Satrang as the name suggests is about colors. The curators in their catalogue forward say that colors have been the most alluring stuff for the artists since ages. I am shocked to see a statement like that coming from a veteran art organizer like Sushma Behl. In short, the curators have used scholarly materials from Janson to Anand Coomaraswamy to assert that artists whether they are traditional, modern or contemporary, use colors to express their pet concerns! Yes, the selection of the theme has to be justified and one can use any historical materials. Actor-Photographer Parvin Dabas, Bhagat Singh and Viren Tanwar are the other artists who constitute this rainbow.
The show would have created another impression had it been presented without a thematic or with another title that does not reveal the ‘real’ curatorial intention. Bhagat Singh, who paints foliages and flowers in the line of A.Ramachandran neither does fit into the thematic scheme nor does present any excellent work of art. Parvin Dabas, an actor turned photographer (or the other way round) clicks underwater pictures and using technology he creates the symmetrical double to generate a psychedelic effect. I don’t find it much exciting in any terms. Viren Tanwar paints human beings in acrobatic positions that remind you both Manjit Bawa and his countable clones. He also does not fit into the scheme of Satrang.
When I say, someone does not fit into the scheme of a particular show, I mean only this much: There are a few good works and these works do not go along with them. In that sense, I would give hundred out of hundred to Subodh Kerkar. He paints and sculpts water politics. A drop of water, sculpted in fibre glass and given the metallic sheen with textures coming out and going in, extends his concerns without any flaw. Water has been his theme for a long time and a very stretched imagination from my part places these works within the curatorial scheme. Rainbows (Sat Rang) produced when sunlight refracts through the condensed water in the atmosphere/cloud. So we have the condensed water in the form of solidified drops, which could be read even into the global water politics.
Sonia M Chawla’s works are overcrowded with images. The web formations of urban and rural imageries with a lost girl inside them are repeated in many canvases. To be sincere to the artist, I would say she needs to work more on her aesthetics. Now it looks quite cluttered and the viewer feels a sense of choking (Please don’t argue that it was exactly you wanted). Simrin M Agarwal has finally come of age. She too works with the urban and rural imageries. There is a building site, a tractor, a machine, a gigantic fly, a brain like foliage and so on in her works. Each canvas contains an individual image. The images are produced with a skillfully generated texture. They are predominantly black and white and impart a sense of urban insecurities.
Pradeep Puthoor is our times Joan Miro. His horizontal triptychs and diptychs contain a world infested with creatures that are ethereal and happy. The color patterns are vibrant and the artist leaves a strong sense of movement in all of his works. But what I felt disappointing is his succumbing to another artist’s idiom (Zakkir Hussain, another Kerala artist) in one of the paper works. There is an effort to create interconnecting red branches in the same style of Zakkir Hussain. Pradeep has his own style and it is evident in most of his works. Then why should he go for this? Never say never again.
My journalistic instincts demand something more to tell my readers. Sushma and Archana could have selected only Subodh, Simrin, Sonia and Pradeep. Then why didn’t they do that? The initial idea was to have a show with Simrin and Sonia. One of the previous catalogues of the Art Room gallery announces a show of Sonia and Simrin between 19th and 26th September at the India Habitat Centre. The duo might have found it difficult to produce enough number of works for a two women show. Hence, Pradeep and Subodh came in. Till then it looks good. But the gallery space is too big to fill with just four artists. So the idea ‘Satrang’ and seven artists. What about Martin Creed, who used up a gigantic wall of Tate Modern with a minuscule ball of blue tac and an empty room with a single electric bulb? Ask him to go to hell. This is India. |
