Making magic At the 2011 edition of Chivas Studio, witness doyens from diverse fields create unique works of art and captivating acts. Experience an eclectic amalgamation of fashion, art, mixology, cinema, music and gourmet food with filmmaker Rohan Sippy, musician Ranjit Barot, designers Abraham & Thakore, artist Paresh Maity, photographer Jatin Kampani, live art maestro Brian Olsen and Indian fusion band Mrigya. Conceptualised as ‘Art is Life is Art,’ this unique experience seamlessly integrates art and luxury. The various creative renditions will include mixology, a fashion broadway that captures the style and musical soul of the 1960s, an art foyer and an art jam.
On December 10 and 11, 2011 at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai.

Jenny Bhatt’s Color Energies
Explore colour as a form of energy that heals and one that expands the mind and the spirit. Each painting is a form of colour yantra, a meditative space, wherein the viewer has an energy exchange with it, making it a device to induce one-pointedness that transcends the material. As you discover the therapeutic value of colours, through them, learn to appreciate existence.
At Gallery Art & Soul, Mumbai from December 19, 2010 to January 12, 2012.

ART TALK
Acclaimed photographer
Robyn Beeche tells Verve about fashion photography from four decades ago

How did it feel shooting for fashion back in the 1970s and ’80s?
I feel very privileged as there were so many creative people in every field trying to make their mark and show their talents not only in fashion but in dance and music, architecture and painting. The ’80s may be criticised for some of the more bleak looks which some adopted which didn’t suit everybody’s taste, but I found its sense of freedom gave me and my collaborators an absolutely blank canvas upon which to create. There was such enthusiasm from the models and celebrities who sat for me that the sessions were a lot of fun.

Tell us about the photographic techniques you pioneered.
New magazines called i-D and The Face which pioneered a different look and style were really interested in running photographic techniques such as cross processing, whereby transparency film was developed in print chemicals to retain a high contrast feeling. More than the photographic techniques I was putting glass between the model and the camera which allowed another surface upon which to paint or decorate to enhance the illusion I was trying to achieve. I was very interested in double exposure which cannot be done on digital cameras and sometimes used filters for different effects.

Has digitisation killed creativity?
I don’t think with the advent of digitilisation there is a lack of creativity but now it is even more difficult to achieve an interesting and arresting image. It is far too easy to ‘Photoshop’ which doesn’t necessarily stretch the photographer’s imagination. Collage and painterly effects are every where but when does the crossover to art happen? It is still early days to set a benchmark of artistic digitilsation as the softwares that allow it to appear something new are always coming out and being tested.

How did you transcend humour through photographs?
Humour shines through via the make-up process which may look more like an illustration or cartoon, such as in the case of Caricatourist, an image that went on a 1985 magazine cover. Other photographs may show eyes painted onto eyelids or eyebrows going the same way. It was our intention to make the viewer see these quirky features about the photograph and wonder how it was achieved.

Fashion Face, Robyn Beeche’s retrospective is showing at Gallery BMB till December 7, 2011.

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