From the Concerns Desk
Age of Photography
February, for the Delhi art lovers at least, was a month of photography. Photography shows were everywhere, right from National Museum to Travancore Palace Art Gallery. It was mainly a Bodhi Art Gallery driven move in which Nature Morte also took a part. It was interesting to catch up with all these shows and they together boosted up the confidence level of many of the photography artists. more »
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Cover story
Airplanes and Parachutes
Jonathan Napack, writer, critic and a specialist on Chinese and Asian art passed away on 20th January 2007. He was just 39. Art Basel recently published an anthology of Napack’s writings and it was released at Asian Art Archives, Hong Kong. JohnyML writes on Napack, his life and times read on »
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UP CLOSE & PERSONAL
N.N.Rimzon  'Up close and personal' is a shared diagram locating lives of significant figures in Contemporary Indian Art over the last four decades. The locus of this diagram is drafted through first person accounts, situations, art works, projects, events, texts, issues, people, cultures and geographies thereby trying to articulate an 'artistic context' that is simultaneously personal and historical. Art historian and writer, Kavitha Balakrishnan in this feature, historically contextualises the life and works of Rimzon. She also analyses the immediate history of Kerala art that shaped the artist in Rimzon. more» |
Spring Board
Ruchin Soni
 Hailing from the family of traditional painters in Gujarat, Ruchin Soni got initiated into the world of art during the childhood itself. He learned traditional painting techniques from his parents and when he was barely ten, he used to do the portraits of people around him. He had his formal education in painting from the MS University, Baroda; took his BFA in Painting and MFA in Murals. more »
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Offbeat
Pratyakash: Theatre of Concern
Ankur, the dramatics group of SGTB Khalsa College is one of the promising young amongst the roaring established ones. Like every year, they took a substantial leap, contributing to the growth of theatre in general and campus theatre in particular, theatre critic and playwright Kuljeet Singh reports. more »
The Grand Cycle
What is the nature of experience? How do human being transcend from one state to another? How does an artist create daring the consequences? In a world infested with dualities, philosophical understanding of the dichotomies is more important than anything else, feels painter and writer Anuradha Nalapat. more »
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| Essay |
The Huddled Masses: Iranna’s Protest Art
Branded and isolated, the human beings in Iranna’s oeuvre suggest the depletion of human dignity at the hands of hegemonic powers. In a catalogue essay for G.R.Iranna’s forthcoming solo, ‘The Birth of Blindness’ at the Aicon Gallery, London, veteran art historian Donald Kuspit says that the artist through his works protests against such de-humanizing forces. more »
Circling The Mountain Of Light
Ranjit Hoskote in the catalogue essay contributed to Yashwant Deshmukh’s solo show, titled ‘Circling the Mountain of Light’ at Bombay Art Gallery, Mumbai, looks at how the artist engages himself with the pure forms and poetry of nature. Hoskote says that Deshmukh took off from where Prabhakar Barwe left. more »
Past Present: In search of the heroic
Mythology and history coalesce in Nandagopal’s sculptures. Far from the maddening crowd, Nandagopal works on his sculptures from his studio at Cholamandal Artists Village, Chennai. His solo show will be opening at the Galley Espace, New Delhi on 7th March 2008. Geeta Doctor captures the nuances of Nandagopal’s art in this catalogue essay. more »
Beyond the ‘Magic’ of Making
Mumbai based art writer and cultural commentator Abhijeet Tamhane, in a catalogue essay contributed to the solo show of Niyeti Chaddha-Kannal at Art Konsult Gallery, New Delhi, says that Kannal’s works might be seen as a re-discovery as well as a subversion of our understanding of the fractal, a term hitherto used for indirect representations generated by a computerized process. more »
The Intimacy of Perception
Noted art historian, Roobina Karode in a catalogue essay contributed to Pooja Iranna’s forthcoming exhibition at the Gallery Espace, New Delhi, says that Pooja intricately paints, filling the entire surface in order to create emptiness. This emptiness but overflows with primal energies that help realize the mute meanings of existence. more »
Domestic Memories
Sojwal Samant’s latest exhibition is presented by Gallery Espace, New Delhi. In the catalogue essay, art historian, Kavita Singh says that the artist turns her personal experience into aesthetical and political expressions. Singh weaves in artist’s biographical anecdotes to explain Samant’s works more » |
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Speaking Through Metaphors
 Contemporary issues such as violence, functions of democracy and the paradoxes or dilemma within are the main concerns of the young painter Debraj Goswami. He contemplates on the issues, analyzes them and transforms his thoughts into a visual language. Metaphors become his looking glass. Young critic Aparna Roy catches up with the artist. Excerpts »
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| News |
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Bharati Kapadia at Guild, Mumbai » » |
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Book Launch and Exhibition at Soul Flower Gallery, Bangkok » » |
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Vivek Vilasini at Arushi Arts Gallery » » |
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Binu Bhaskar’s ‘Di-Stance’ at Bodhi,Travancore Palace » » |
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K.G.Subramanyan at Guild, New York » » |
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More News » |
| Features |
To the Dictatorship of Art: Jonathan Meese
Provocative, playful and deeply critical of history as a monolith-that suffices the German artist Jonathan Meese’s works. But there is more to this man in Adidas track suit. Amrita Gupta Singh features this artist of excess. more »
Fatigue is taking over…
Gitanjali Dang, Mumbai based critic and curator recently curated a show titled ‘Post Visual World’ at the Priyashree Galleries, Mumbai. She contends that the relationship between the image and the receiver has been severed due to visual overloading. In this essay she says, why this rupture has ocured. more »
Choice of Creation
Baroda based artist Heeral Trivedi is having her solo show at the Guild Gallery, USA. During this occasion she looks at her own art practice and tries to explain why she chooses certain images and how certain images are discarded in the process of painting. more »
Poetry Of The Banal
Noted artist, Pushpamala N writes how the students in regional colleges once thought that they would have ‘badly’ influenced had they seen any other artists’ works. Keeping this ironic situation as a context and backdrop, Pushpamala elucidates the works of the young painter Mahesh G, who recently had a show at the OED Gallery, Kochi. more» |
| Reviews |
The Crafting of Reality
Amrita Gupta Singh traces the genesis of Sudhir Patwardhan’s drawings which were recently exhibited in an exclusive drawings solo at the Guild Gallery Mumbai. The life in Mumbai enters in Patwardhan’s drawings in multiple registers, says the author. more »
Breaking Free from Narratives
Thrissur based artist T.P.Premjee has been in the art scene for almost fifteen years, mostly doing experimental community projects. His recent solo show at the Kashi Gallery, Kochi reveals a new phase in his artistic career. Renu Ramanath reviews the works. more »
The Feb Show 2008
Red Earth Gallery, Baroda presents its 6th ‘Feb Show series’ with 23 artists from all over India. Curator and writer Aarti Desai visits the show and says that this open platform has given confidence to younger artists to do confrontational works and most of the works deal with the predicament of young people in the urban spaces. more »
A journey into the Elemental
Oindrilla Maity visits Manoj Kachangal’s recent solo show at the Mon Art Gallery, Kolkata and comes out with a feeling that this artist looks for the elemental simplicity of nature and forms in his works. Using colors and geometrical patterns, Manoj evokes a transcendental world, says Oindrilla Maity. more »
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