Holding up the mirror to reality, Dr. Sudhir Patwardhan's paintings reflect the tensions between settlement and unrest, the industrial and the natural and yet they invariably signal the hope that springs eternal…and makes life worth living.
Displaying a commendable ability to create images through reflections of his constructions, Arzan Khambatta strikes a balance between the playful and the profound. And therein lies his genius.

The art world has been buzzing with innovative ideas and Maria Louis zooms in on the variegated offerings

VERVE CLOSE-UP

Milburn Cherian
Jehangir Art Gallery

Milburn Cherian's canvases are still peopled with the crush of humanity in various stages of anguish, distress and torment. But since her last exhibition held three years ago, there is a change in the size, colour and expressions of the faces that speak evocatively of the human condition. Bigger, more colourful and serene, the hopelessness of the forms, depicted by their surrealistically missing limbs, is belied by their strength of purpose and peaceful demeanour.

The warm, earthy colours lend her paintings a sepia tone that complements the Biblical references she draws on to symbolise suffering and resignation to one's fate. But whether they are grappling with the vagaries of life or trying to make others laugh on the outside while they cry on the inside (as in the Clowns series), the calmness of "growing up and growing old" is reflected in the expressions of her protagonists.

Arzan Khambatta
Jehangir Art Gallery

Arzan Khambatta's quirky sculptures - peppered with a sprinkling of sexual innuendoes - take a new look at our every day world. 'Re-fresh-ingly' different from his last exhibition - where the sculptor who gained repute from his quixotic 'scraptures' (sculptures made from scrap metal), suddenly turned turtle and looked gauche in the avatar of a serious artist - his latest showing revealed him at his wittiest best. The well-conceived and excellently executed pieces succeeded in bringing a smile to the most serious faces. Consider Laptop Model (a woman sitting on her boss' lap), Pamela And-her-son (a busty woman sunbathing while her kid plays in the sand) or Expose Yourself To Art (a 3-D version of the Punch cartoon showing a man shedding his coat to expose his unclad body in front of a nude sculpture). But clever titles, offbeat images and mischievous ribaldry are not all there is to the work of this idiosyncratic artist. Displaying a commendable ability to create images through reflections of his constructions - as in Yin Yang and Stairway To Heaven - he strikes a balance between the playful and the profound. And therein lies his genius. Sadly, there is a danger that the hype surrounding the Humble Bee - his take-off on Amitabh Bachchan - may obliterate it from view.

Nayanaa Kanodia
Museum Art Gallery

Two years after her last show, the spelling of Nayanaa Kanodia's name has changed - but her work remains naïve, a raw, riveting style that marks the work of untrained painters. Kanodia has adopted and adapted the use of kitschy colour, blatant characterisation and picturesque embellishments to suit her purpose - which is to depict the varied culture of our country.

The idyllic situations and satirical caricatures she portrays effectively evoke mirth…and nostalgia for times gone by. Teen Patti (showing a card game being played by four friends) and Anniversary (depicting a happy couple with waiters hovering around them) are comical in some way. But when we laugh at them, we are laughing at ourselves, for the desires and emotions are universal. Her earlier series of weddings, vehicles, bazaar scenes and ancient sports, has now coalesced into a consolidated documentary of an India that is slowly giving way to a new one that is fast emerging.

Dr. Sudhir Patwardhan
Sakshi Gallery

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Sudhir Patwardhan's pencil and brushstrokes have delineated distinctive and universal themes that spring from the theatre of life as lived by the working classes - especially labourers. Construction sites, suburban trains, crowded tenements, sleepy cafes and busy streets form the backdrop against which his heroes act out their given parts.

Holding up the mirror to reality, his paintings reflect the tensions between settlement and unrest, the industrial and the natural and yet they invariably signal the hope that springs eternal…and makes life worth living. All these and more, one sees in the extensively illustrated collector's edition published by Synergy Art Foundation in collaboration with Eminence Designs and released on the occasion of his recent exhibition tour (Baroda, Delhi, Mumbai).

VERVE VANTAGE VIEW

Art Camps: The Big Question

Should hotels be hailed as the new 'maharajahs' of art, replacing the royal patrons of pre-Independence India? This is a question that begs an answer, especially since the JW Marriott art camp, arranged by artist, Kahini-Arte Merchant, followed close on the heels of the Grand Hyatt Art Camp, conceived by Vickram Sethi.

Altruism is certainly not the main motive of hosting artists for a whole week, as the hotel earns the privilege of keeping the paintings produced during the stay (albeit in exchange for a small honorarium), but are more and more hotels jumping on to the bandwagon merely to acquire art, or are they also interested in acting as catalysts in the growth of contemporary Indian art?

While some established artists vociferously decry the trend, others who revel in the time they can spend with their peers, fertilising their ideas and sowing new seeds. While JW Marriott's camp resulted in better quality of work (maybe because it had a more cohesive group), Grand Hyatt's camp had the distinction of hosting a Pakistani artist, Mohammed Shakil Saigol, for the first time. Perhaps Vickram Sethi is on the right track with his vision of using such camps to throw up new ideas. The artists also examined ways of prmoting artistic exchanges between India and other SAARC countries.

S(cent) Of An Artist

This year marks the birth centenary of Salvador Dali…and Mumbai was privy to Dali's Secrets, a selection of reproductions that illustrate the variety of the surrealist genius' art - be it paintings, photography, sculptures, ballet costumes or jewellery - when Ruby Lips by Les Parfums Salvador Dali was launched at Olive with great fanfare. Ruby Lips was the legendary brooch he created out of rubies and pearls on 24-carat gold in 1941. Inspired by the lips of Greek goddess, Aphrodite, his interpretation of the poetic cliché "lips like rubies and teeth like pearls" is eternally feminine, sensual and provocative - qualities that can be seen in his paintings - like Apparition Of Aphrodite and Woman With The Head Of Rose.

Across The Border

Mumbai was recently treated to the Bangladesh Art Exhibition at the Museum Art Gallery. Among the 100 odd works of art by eminent and internationally acclaimed artists from Bangladesh, some gems on view were the works of Kanak Champa Chakma, whose vibrant paintings showcased events from the colourful daily life of the Chittagong hill tribes; Khalid Mahmood Mithu, a consummate artist, scriptwriter, cameraman and film director, who projected life in the hills with all its beauty and grace; Shahnaz Kuhu, whose nudes were at once perceptive and revealing; and Iffat Ara Dewan, whose chalk pastels and charcoals of still life displayed an astonishing sensitivity to colour and light. While the contemporary Indian art scene is more exciting in comparison, it was an interesting glimpse into the creative and social concerns that preoccupy our neighbours.

VERVE LISTING

Black Flute, Reena Saini Kallat, Gallery Chemould: A consciousness of social and economic ills that beset Indian society is the thread that binds her oeuvre. Her Gallery of Rogues and series of Sword Swallowers were particularly evocative of the consequences of power play and the travails that the lower strata of society are forced to swallow.

Ideas and Images VI, NGMA's annual magazine format exhibition curated by Dr. Sarayu Doshi: The last in the series devoted to the contribution of Mumbai's artists, it was remarkable for showcasing the collaboration of women artists on Level 2 and the working styles of young artists on Level 5 - both co-ordinated by artist, Brinda Miller.

Vanitas Vanitum, curated installation by Peter Nagy, Sakshi Gallery: This creative collection of objects that commented upon the transitory nature of existence, was visualised by artists like Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamachari and Anita Dube.

Chalo Colaba, Café Basilico: The exhibition, hosted by Farhan Azmi, will be remembered for emerging artist, Jeet Ganguli's Faith, a work commissioned by the restaurateur to symbolise a recent traumatic experience.

Back From The UK, Contemporary Ceramics, curated by Zareen Mistry of Bilmat Zeramics and hosted by the British Council: Five accomplished ceramists, displayed the diversity of styles possible in studio pottery.

Cannanore, Photographs by Pallon Daruwala, textiles by Yamini: The innovative textiles took their cue from the colours, textures and forms of the series of photographs that evoke the multi-faceted spirit of Cannanore.

Sacred Space, RPG Academy of Art and Music, Jehangir Art Gallery: Businessman and art collector, Harsh Goenka's annual offering revolved around two themes, Reverence and In the Name of God. As usual, a landmark show.

Oil Paintings, Jaya Javeri, the Kala Ghoda Gallery: In her tenth solo exhibition, the Bangalore-based artist returned to the city of her birth with canvases in her trademark style. Using a palette knife, she achieved an interesting interplay of light, shadow and distance.

About Turn, Anay Mann: Edited by Devika Daulet-Singh, the book embodies the photographer's interpretation of the changing identity of the Indian woman. The design interventions enhance the theme.