COLOURFUL SPECTRUM

The ninth Harmony Show 2004, under the baton of Tina Ambani, showcased 132 artists, earlier this month. As always, this year’s edition brought to art aficionados a wide spectrum of paintings, representing contemporary art at its evolving best. Many young artists had the honour of sharing a platform with established names like Satish Gujral, Amitava Das et al. Continuing its ongoing support of the NGO, Aseema, this year, Ambani initiated a special exhibition of photographs – Golden Light – compiled from the archives of India’s leading photographers.

It took more than two years for France-based veteran artist, S. H. Raza to bring his retrospective to India. Called Japa, or meditating, the exhibition, organised by Art Musings, had paintings that revealed his deep roots in Indian philosophy and aesthetics. “I come back home every year to renew my contact with the country, its soil, language, people and my childhood memories of the forest in Madhya Pradesh, where I grew up,” hereveals. On exhibit were his paintings about the bindu, which Raza considers ‘a point of concentration and power’. Other works revolved around the concepts of sparsh (touch), prakriti (nature) and kundalini (tension). Together, they represented five decades of Raza’s prolific and brilliant career.

GOLDEN MEMORIES

Bollywood nostalgia was up for exhibition and sale at the Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai. Curated by Pheroza Godrej, Bollywood Flashback showcased rare hand-painted posters of K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam, photographs of Dadasaheb Phalke’s Raja Harishchandra, the first Indian film ever made; copies of the first film magazines and other film memorabilia. More than 6,000 film posters, photographs, lobby cards, synopses, booklets, handbills, silent movie postcards and more – belonging to collector, Dinesh Thacker – were on show.

EGGCITING INSPIRATION

Lawyer, Mani Cooper dishes up a scramble of Fabergé-inspired eggs

Well-known lawyer and professor of law, Mani Cooper, was in the process of carefully decorating a baby pink egg, when she heard the news of Lady Diana’s untimely death, on television. The handler of a hundred eggs, creator of the Fabergé lookalike, crushed a corner of her creation – a never before happening! This, however, in its altered and renewed state, finds place in the approximately 100 or so creations at a recent exhibition of embellished eggs at Cooper’s Mumbai residence. ‘This event is very special to us’, writes Anita Lawyer, wife of singer Gary, who had a hand in the event’s organisation ‘because Mani’s husband, (senior counsel) Khatau, is very seriously ill with cancer and it is his wish that his wife’s talent is exhibited’. (Khatau passed away soon after this writer met Mani.) Over coffee and cakes, the city’s high society matrons and gents, obliged – wide-eyed at the intricacy, the obvious patience and skill involved in this labour of love.

Skill more than art perhaps and craft more then originality, Cooper’s dexterity and sleight of hand cannot be ignored. Her favourite is the ‘Regency jewel casket’ an ostrich egg painted in opal mint green and decorated with swags of rhinestone. A Rhea egg from South America features a winter scene. An assortment of eggs fool the eye into thinking ‘Wedgwood’. True creative grit, say we, behind fragile shells.

KALA GHODA REVISITED

The Kala Ghoda Festival had something for everyone…

So, what was new about the Kala Ghoda Festival, held earlier this year in Mumbai's art precinct? For one, the loud speakers were silenced by the government, therefore no music shows outdoors. This led, however to an unusual use of venue and a spreading out of music, art and other activities.

The visual arts got a boost with events from serious art to shawls to art on a tee. The cartoonist’s, from veteran Mario Miranda to Vins, Vivek Thakker and Sonali Shah, received a long overdue platform at the Pundole Art Gallery while the Max Mueller’s spanking new gallery provided a platform for Mumbai artists ranging from F. N. Souza to Tyeb Mehta. Installation art and furniture was displayed by the Hacienda Art and Furniture Gallery. And, the Coomaraswami Hall at the museum showcased exceptional examples of a rare tradition of shawl making – the Do Rukha or reversible shawl.

Around Mumbai's burgeoning art district, stores, boutiques and restaurants hopped onto the festival bandwagon. Bilmatz Zeramics, Chidakashi Jewellers, the Chetana Crafts Centre participated. And why would the newly opened TGIF be left out of this culture fest? An interactive session had artists, Bose Krishnamachari, Simeen Oshidar, Papri Bose Mehta and Brinda Chudasama Miller painting on slabs of chocolate. Ummm!

An exhibition of comic books at Oxford Bookstore, a demonstration of Bharti Pitre’s experiments in contemporary forms in papier mache, an Origami workshop conducted by Gita Kantawala and screen time fun through a wide range of films screened at Horniman Circle Gardens which provided a perfect backdrop for Indian classical performances and those by French and American groups.... Book readings, an evening of poetry, heritage walks and, of course, food. This last laid out by Café Samovar which had Kashmiri delicacies cooked up by wazwans, traditional cooks, as well as Ripon Club, the sleepy old bastion of authentic Parsi bhonu.

Spread out perhaps! But, there was something for anyone who did not mind horsing around a bit, at the Kala Ghoda fest.

A MAN OF MANY MEDIUMS

Artist, poet, writer, filmmaker, designer, Muzaffar Ali is all this and much more. Inspired and inspiring, the talented creator’s muse was evident in his latest exhibition, Let The Spirit Fly, at Shridharni Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. Ali has always been deeply influenced by his heritage and roots and has constantly reinvented himself in his search for the ultimate expression of aesthetics. The artist has been engrossed in a study of the 13th century mystic poet, Rumi. In his latest works, he translates his pre-occupation into two-dimensional art works, to create abstractions that work admirably.

MOVING PICTURES

It’s very unusual for sculptor and artist, Dashrath Patel to venture out of his self-induced seclusion. So, when he held a show of abstract paper collages at the Tao Art Gallery, it created quite a buzz. In a series of 25 abstract paper collages, Patel has experimented with light and colour. Each collage is a square frame with three-dimensional sub-frames inside it. From different angles, they appear different. The colours change dramatically, as the light changes. They change and they surprise.

THE MASTER’S TOUCH

The National Gallery for Modern Art, Mumbai, staged Not Just 88 Husains In Oils, in celebration of M. F. Husain’s 88th birthday. Husain is still a man with the unfailing spirit and the travel plans of a 30-year-old – he painted 88 oils in four cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Paris – and released a book of the same name to coincide with the show. This show did not have an over-riding theme per se, though the images have grown from the histories of the cities. Some of the most stunning canvases included The Last Supper, a large painting in blue, black and white and another depicting Joan of Arc on horseback, which has been used in his film Meenaxi, A Tale of Three Cities. Among the self-portraits, the early ones seem angry and harsh in contrast with the more recent, post Gaja Gamini ones. Husain has returned to oils after 40 years. He had moved to acrylics due to their durability and faster drying tempo. Painting 60 to 70 years now, it is the sheer joy of line and colour that drives him. He feels that Art grows from the Self, and considers Cinema as the ultimate art form.

A LINE APART

Payal Khandwala, a former textile, fashion and art student, who studied illustration at Parsons School of Design, New York, exhibited black-and-white line drawings at the Museum Art Gallery, Mumbai, a marked break from her colour-drenched past. The artist speaks about her changing muse.

Why have you chosen to do line drawings this time around?

Lines are the seed of any abstract work. In a non-figurative frame, they form the building blocks for subsequent abstraction. The line is perhaps the most integral component of form and structure. It is this framework with which the artist visualises drawing, sculpture or painting.

What kind of experimentation have you done with lines?

The theme running through the exhibition is one – heads and figures. I have simplified the figures, added a fun, whacky, humorous element.

I have elongated the facial features, extended them, to see the kind of visual effect they have. All of them began as doodles.

DETAILED DEPICTION

Baroda-based Vibha Desai’s works show a juxtaposition of flat planes and pigments, making them almost ornate. The works she showed recently at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, were dominated by the female figure, seen in various moods and stances, as if posing just for the artist. Desai’s work tends to veer more towards western art aesthetics. It shows an undeniable influence of Henri Matisse, with all its surface ornamentation. Form and colour is her mainstay and her works display her sensitivity towards detailing. There is a certain sensuousness here. This attention to detail, especially in the female form, is the result of studied draughtsmanship. A kettle on a table, a jug of water, the drapery or the patterns on the floor, draw your attention, juxtaposed as they are against the flat planes. Her female figures seem comfortable in their surroundings, couched within the inanimate setting.

MULTILAYERED MAGIC

The turquoise reds of Manjit Bawa’s earlier paintings have given way to the soft pinks and yellows of more recent ones. His one or two figures, of either humans or animals, have now been joined by a clutch of smaller ones, in paintings that seem to be multilayered. Bawa’s three-city exhibition – Delhi, Baroda, Mumbai at the Sakshi Art Gallery – revealed a clear evolution. The painting of the poetess, Laldidh, with her tonsured head, represents his current state of mind: “I used to be an active participant in anti-government and establishment protests and marches but now I know that the establishment doesn’t care for anyone. I draw sustenance from my inner world, which reflects in my present works. I swing between feeling frustrated about the whole social situation and feeling optimistic about our ability to fight back.”

INNER LANDSCAPES

Artist Sunil Padwal’s stylish but angst-ridden, urban man has evolved. Earlier, the solitary man, whom the artist has been painting for a decade, was just a fleeting vision. In his fourth solo untitled exhibition, held at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Padwal gives a definite form and identity to his male protagonist, whose inner landscape he has been exploring through his works. His canvases, which reflected a melange of colours, from bright yellow to blood red, were filled with pop art icons, graffiti and motifs. They made an overt political statement through symbols of the Sarajevo-Bosnia war or Marxist icons. The imagery is so strong that art connoisseurs like Harsh Goenka and Kumarmanglam Birla have made Padwal’s protagonist a part of their collections.

A SPRING IN THE AIR

The Affordable Art Fair returned to Battersea Park, London, with the Spring Collection, 2004. With 130 galleries participating in this popular art experience, the relaxed ambience of the fair offered first-time buyers the unique opportunity of browsing for that special find and the thrill of discovering new artists. The wide range of high quality work, including paintings, drawings, original prints, photography and sculpture, made the fair a stimulating event for anyone who wanted to own an original piece of art. With prices under 2,500 pounds, it was easier on the pocket too.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART

In a well-conceived show, the Women’s India Trust (WIT), which undertakes projects to empower underprivileged Indian women by generating employment and self-help schemes, held an art exhibition to contribute toward funding various endeavours. At Hacienda Gallery, Mumbai, the effort saw several known artists donate their works for sale, including Nayanaa Kanodia, Babu Xavier, Simeen Oshidar and Ganesh Chougule. From the muted shades of Tapas Ghosal’s atmosphere-laden spiritual journey through Varanasi to the realistic focus of Vivek Kumavat’s Jharokha, from the unconventional kitsch marking Ganga Chopra’s offbeat depiction of Hanuman to the gentleness of feminine power, drawing Shiva’s strength in Surendra Jagtap’s Shakti, the exhibited works were very striking.