The mercury rises as summer settles in comfortably, scorching, proud and unapologetic. We succumb haplessly praying for cool showers and breeze. Art takes recluse in the exotic locales of the city of water & lights as the 56th Venice Biennale opens, early in May, one of the oldest and most prestigious international art exhibitions in […]
Month: May 2015
COVER STORY
Modern Indian Art and the idea of Indigenous Contemporary Tanveer Ajsi Historians of art inform us that until the nineteenth century, the cultural hegemony of the West had not found its feet within the artistic traditions of India. The aesthetic sensibility of the West was, until then, received with a scant interest by the Mughal […]
COVER STORY
Redeeming Tradition : Velu Viswanathan’s Yantric Interplay Dr. Ashrafi s Bhagat Neo-Tantric art integrated, translated, synthesized or imitated using contemporary materials/vocabulary to assert itself as an autonomous sign. In its deployment within the existing contingencies, it moderated as a modern idiom, remaining secular whereby it was emptied of its religious/ritualistic content, and its formalistic elements […]
COVER STORY
Tantric Art Dr. Seema Bawa Tantric Art remains one of the most misinterpreted, and even abused, labels amongst contemporary art practice. An art work appropriating Tantric symbols and iconography out of context would not qualify as Tantric Art. As its bedrock, Tantra, involves positing a self that can transcend spatio-temporal limits or causation and is […]
INTERVIEW
The Visible Forms of Invisible Wonders: Govinda Sah Azad Gerard Houghton Gerard Houghton: Govinda, please tell me about where you come from originally. Govindah Sah: I was born in Rajbiraj, in eastern Nepal, south of Everest and just 12 km. from India. Most people there are subsistence farmers, growing rice, wheat and vegetables on good […]
INTERVIEW
Indian Connections: Martine Le Coz Lina Vincent Sunish Martine Le Coz is a writer and artist living in Amboise, France. An ardent admirer of Indian spiritual philosophies, she speaks to Lina Vincent Sunish about her engagement with tantra and its meaning within her life and art. Martine Le Coz is a French writer and artist […]
INTERVIEW
A Conversation With Rajesh Ram Pranamita Borgohain There’s something enticing as well as peculiar about seeing the hybrid veggie-human forms in artist Rajesh Ram’s art works. They’re tactile, provoking and metaphorically relate food, life and reality. Rajesh’s sculptures are close to reality, yet with exaggerated forms; his works promise the unattainable in life. Their sensual […]
INTERVIEW
Shanta’s Treasure Trove Sumati Gangopadhyay A recurring touch of nostalgia is seen in Shanta Samant’s sculptures.Interestingly, it traces her journey from early childhood and adolescence to womanhood. Here, we find Shanta displaying a stunning quality of exuberance expressed with playful abandon. A high note of passion and spontaneity are the quintessential elements that mark these […]
REPORT
Performers At The Sacred Arts A Festival Curated By Teamwork Arts Santanu Ganguly Vocal Rasta has been active for the past few months and was recently seen at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival and Sounds of Freedom where they performed in front of Binoy Varghese and Velamkanni Matha. Comprising of 15 performers singing Acapella (only […]
REPORT
Revisiting Deepor Beel Pranamita Borgohain Revisiting Deepor Beel, a travelling workshop under the festival Kala Samanvayaa 2015 was held at Deepor Beel village, Near Guwahati from 13th – 16th January. The workshop was a site specific interdisciplinary art practice where all the activities had been done in a collaborative way by bringing together an international […]
REPORT
Goa Photo Festival, 2015 Nikhil Padgaonkar From the 25th of February till the 7th of March, the residents of Panaji are in for a treat. For during this time, the city itself will become a platform for exhibiting some of the country’s and the world’s most innovative contemporary photography. This is happening courtesy of Goa […]
REPORT
3rd Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) Santanu Ganguly The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) started just three years ago but, within a small span of time, it has become one of India’s most important and most discussed film festivals. In the third edition of DIFF, among fiction feature films, actor/director Rajat Kapoor’s ‘Aankhon Dekhi’ describes […]
ESSAY
The Formulation Of Iconography In The Paintings Of Raja Ravi Varma Aastha Duggal The iconography in Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings is a paradigm of tactile illusionism, bringing to life the characters of mythological and religious tales, giving them an identity which the people could associate the narrative with. In the nineteenth century, India witnessed an […]
CINEMA
RupKotha : A Short Film Art & Deal Correspondent Rupkotha shows how, sometimes, some incidents in life effect/hurt us so badly that they weaken us mentally and physically for the time being. In such a state ending one’s life seems to be the only solution and escape from all problems. But, hope should not be […]
PHOTO FEATURE
“The Fabled Hampi” by Ganesh Doddamani Art & Deal Correspondent On The Occasion Of World Heritage Day, Art Spice Gallery At The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa Gifts Presented An Enthralling Exhibition, “The Fabled Hampi” By An Award-Wining Artist, Ganesh Doddamani. April 18, 2015: The fabled ruins of Hampi have often provided a wide canvas for […]
PHOTO ESSAY
Sudipta Acharjee
REVIEW
Recent Abstract Executions Of Minakshi Patil [Mumbai] Mrinal Ghosh In her recent paintings, Minakshi Patil experiments with a particular form of abstraction, where she tries to capture an intangible feeling generated out of a very tangible reality that one experiences in the existential process. Her form of abstraction has no direct link with any natural […]
REVIEW
Art and History, finding One Another [Delhi] Art & Deal Correspondent An Indian kaleidoscope – An exhibition bringing together the best of art and history from India 200 years ago by Pran Sabharwal Foundation Exhibition featuring lithographs, wood engraving by artists such as William and Thomas Daniell, Solvyn, Mortimer Menpes and Dottor Ferrario. Be ready […]
REVIEW
Museum of Unknown Memories [DELHI ] Premjish Achari Two significant events of the 1980s form an important memory in Manish Pushkale’s life and his artistic trajectory. The 1982 foundation of Bharat Bhavan and the 1984 tragic Bhopal Gas Tragedy has presented him with two contrasting images of life and death which has stayed on with […]
REVIEW
Construing Exhibition Spaces A structure re defines everything in and around it. [Bangalore] Sandhya Annaiah Art practice in Bangalore is mostly noted for having established itself outside of the institutional spaces (like galleries, museums, art colleges etc.) and creating a separate category/space for itself where artists are at ease to explore, escaping the hegemony of […]
BOOK REVIEW
Daniells’work unearthed: A boon To Art Lovers, Historians Santanu Ganguly Daniells’ India: Views from the Eighteenth Century Introduction: B.N. Goswamy ISBN: 978-93-81523-63-6 Size: 425×298 mm, Illustrations: 95, Hardback with dust jacket Price: Rs 6,000/-, Pages: 204 Thomas Daniell and his nephew William travelled across India, painting oriental sceneries wherever they went. This special book presents […]
BOOK REVIEW
Nicholas Roerich/Ashok Dilwali: Inspired By The Himalayas Santanu Ganguly Nicholas Roerich/Ashok Dilwali: Inspired bythe Himalayas Publisher: Niyogi Books Photographs: 125, Pages: 174, Size: 425×298mm, Price: Rs 3,000/-, HB Nicholas Roerich (October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947) was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, enlightener, philosopher, and public figure. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia to […]
BOOK REVIEW
Nobody’s Art –Everybody’s Art Lina Vincent Sunish To see art in a mutilated wall with plaster falling off, or a paan-blotch is a stretch. It is something that anyone living in India for long enough would question, surrounded as we are by these constantly appearing and vanishing traces of human interaction with built surfaces. They […]