Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEING ANIMAL curated by Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Being Animal
Real, Imaginary and Holy
14 artists’ tryst with ' being animal'
Chief Guest
Amala Akkineni
(Animal Rights Activist)
preview on 4th Feb 10'
on view till 12th Feb10'
view exhibhition online on
www.iconart.in
Gallery proceeds for Blue Cross Society
An exhibition of paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures
by Artists
Akshay Anand
Srikant Kurva
C.Jagadish
Laxma Goud
Srinivasa Chari
Giridhar Goud
Tailor Srinivas
Bharat Yadhav
Jaya Prakash
S.K .Sarkar
Girish Kulkarni
Rudra Mandal
Rayees Ahmed
Rupal Dave
curated by
Dr .Avani Rao Gandra
Foreword
Being Animal
“Being Animal” in art , science or fiction meant pushing the peripheries of human limitation. Man aspired to fly like a bird, man aspired to go deep into the oceans like a fish, so he built the aircraft and submarine . Being animal would mean being pure in your love and giving, being pure in your motherly instincts and being responsibe to your environs.
Also, it means being ruthless in your vengeance and beastly with your punishments. No wonder even gods aspired to be animals!
Traditional Indian art as temple sculptures, mythological illustrations show a special affinity to this bonding of animals with man. In contemporary art, the artist adopted the animal form and animal nature, to put forth his fantasies, his imagination, his realities and to recreate hope.
In this show we have an interesting mix of such insights and vision of 14 artists, befriending or being animals themselves. If Srikant Kurva aspired to show the beauty of animal in all its splendor and finery, Giridhar Goud’s cow and calf capture
the essence of motherhood in their smooth velvety texture and lucid eyes , Laxma shares an intimate feeling with his proud goat . Jagadish plays satire in his‘ lion in sheeps clothes’ depicting today’s politician . Passion is at play Jayaprakash’s tiger and tigress , Sarkar’s voyeuristic journey culminates in hybridist forms of man-woman and animal . Rayees stokes in a somber and sensitive mood between his man –bird- animal juxtapositions . Akshay finds the ultimate animal in the sacred forms of Hanuman and Ganesh . Rupal Dave sensitizes her feminist leanings immersing her self with animal elements . Bharath yadav spins his tryst with the buffalo as a providers tale, Tailor Srinivas’s gentle rendering of man – woman-sheep show the affinity rural environs share with animal . Rudra mandal has a tale of man- horse sharing moods of love and separation. Srinivasa Chari has man – goat, sharing compassion and sympathy in their emotive journeys. Girish Kulkari pokes pun at the polemics of today systems, as the mighty lion on the circus stand .
Agony and ecstasy are shared with animals, while it is getting more impossible to share the same between humans in themselves .
Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Thursday, January 21, 2010
BABA AND BIBI AT ICONART
BABA AND BIBI
by Shymal Mukherjee
preview on 23rd Jan 2010
on till 3rd Feb2010
at
ICONART Gallery
ph no 9849968797
Bibi and Baba
By Shyamal Mukherjee
Foreword
In his signature caricature style, Indian rusticity achieves a modern day interpretation in Shyamal Mukherjees art works. The immediacy of the robust forms with their bright orange , red ,green attires attire fill the frames end to end, may on first impression seem to achieve a comic , humorous end. But when one appraises a body of his work, these men and women titled simply as “Babas” and “Bibis” convey a sampling of Indian middle class life , especially artisans finding joy in the paradox of frugal living and their occupation of entertaining others . The body postures and eyes drawn into the chubby and plump rotund pudginess, profess an astuteness that comes from a life of patience and sustenance. These men and women as performers, with their entertainment paraphernalia of musical instruments and scrolls , within the context of gallery walls seem to poke satire as figures of entertainment for the viewer and as a means of livelihood for themselves, as artists . People painted in pairs or as larger family empathise each other with compassion, in this effort.
Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
curator
Friday, January 15, 2010
SPRING FRESH by Zuju Shareef
"Spring Fresh"
exhibition of paintings
by artist Zuju Shareef
preview on
16th Jan '10, 6.30 pm
Show on till 21st Jan '10
11.30a.m to 7 p.m
view exhibhition online on
www.iconart.in
ph no 9849968797Saturday, January 2, 2010
Dream And The Divine
Artist Saumya Bandhopadhyaya stretches the boundaries of his imagination into a pictorial that encompasses love in all its diverse elements-of love that is eternal, enduring and endless, of love between man and woman , of love between the divine and the human , of love between mother and child .
The artists excellent skill at realistic figuration compliment his dreamscape vision of charming women and princely men, in a fictitious playground of beauty and fantasy. Here is a generous play of fiction, the divine self of lord Krishna amidst fantastical winged men and women , of cherubic children , angelic and blessed, all set to play a honest game of love and worship .
The paradox of elements within the frame creates interest. The highly realistic human forms set in an illusory world, defying gravity, invent a certain lightness from the humdrum everyday day life. The sensuality of the human form pitted against the iconic image of the lord Krishna is another contradiction that calls forth a possibility of the unlikely coming together, as in life. Only the strong bonds of love are the basic rudiments that seem to sustain all these differences .
Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Man & Women...Between Divine And Mundane
It’s a mythopoetical world between man and woman, suspended in timelessness and a space that summons both the earthly and the heavenly. The organic rendering of the human form as nudes with swift strokes and inherent natural textures are reminiscent of nature. As earth bound trees , mountains ,rivers on one side and the luminous colours, more cosmic in symbolism recalling the bright sun, moon ,planets on the other end . At times more obvious, the woman as goddesses and man a gigantic , muscular presence and at times engaged in a sensitive play with each other or with other forms of nature such as birds, fish or flowers. This sensuousness tunes in and balances the ascetic expression of these human forms. Suspended in the humdrum of earthly life ,the body is treated as a sacred entity with philosophical notions of huger , desire , fulfillment , fertility , redemptive , short of extinction . Natural cycles of solar, lunar phases, vegetative cycles of trees and seasonal flow of river water , eternal rotations are symbolized as bright lush green of seasonal crop , white as purity of spirit and the warmth of brown earth and animal ,the blues of life giving water, the fiery yellows of the sacred fire, these are internalized in the body as cosmic energy .They are Lila , the divine play of lord Krishna with Radha . Innocent love, desire, reaching towards a higher self .
Dr .Avani Rao Gandra
Dr .Avani Rao Gandra
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Bengal Metaphor
Art inspired by a poetical imagination , rhythm and flow inspired by a dream state quality, profound beauty, of gods and goddesses ,of kings and queens , of man and woman on the street ,these are the unique features of many artists from the Bengal school . The artists relate to flowers and birds or the sweet song flowing from the flute of the lord or lover, some exuberant, some self absorbed, art beyond time and space , a sensibility of beauty that can be universally appreciated by every soul who can respond to a sunrise , of a birds twitter or soft unseen music filling a moonlit night . While these emotional qualities may be common take offs for many of these artists, it is the sense and sensibility, it the dust raised from each individualistic expression, so varying yet so binding tie these ten artists together. The personal vision of each , to follow a certain lyrical mood creates a sensation , that relates to beauty ranging from lovely to splendor ,from exquisiteness to delicate elegance . From within these froms , within these brush strokes , colours and light comes through harmony, peace and hope . Independent of subjects chosen and free of clever craftiness ,a certain pattern of enquiry develops to fullness with full sensitivity, typical of Bengal master painters.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Basically Hyderabadi
Curator’s Note
Basically Hyderabadi
Chronicles of old city
The minutes, transcripts, proceedings of life in the old city , of life known to the artist , of life which passes by ,around him and at times gets into him . This is the most intimate experience any artist can strive to give form .Taking notes of that flowing beard of a fakir, making a quick sketch of a reclined young man, unhurried movements of burkha clad women , relaxed and leisurely in the comfort of their homes, in bazaars , tea stalls and on the streets, everyday life is captured in an honest effort . With candid expressions and at times fleeting suspicious emotions crossing quickly on their faces only to redress into an unquestioning trust, in their way of life . Basically Hyderabadi by nature.
These people known to Rayees , fascinate him with their fortitude and resilience, grace in their poise and elegance in their homely forms . Pure and clear they manifest as semi cubistic structures , bright and alive in their attire and somber in their expression, that come with a pride and dignity ,belief in their faith and togetherness .
They show the stained glass effects of byzantine religious church paintings , induced in a classical modern style where the facial features are repeated with religious icons or the urdu scripts, merge with the human form seamlessly ,addressing this life in a time frame .
Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Poetry in stone
These ruins speak of the magnificent Indian architectural, sculptural heritage. Their physical remains in a variety of states, as preserved complete forms, as shells or relics, seem to evoke within their residues and remnants, an underlying emotion that evoke the glory of the past, express anguish of destruction or simply enthrall by their splendor. They seem to be at rest, after a lengthy journey.
Madhugopal captures in his photographs, these very mysteries, embedded in century year old temples and forts of South Indian architecture. Enigmatic structures of caves, rocks, crumbling temples, shattered ruins are exposed in their streaming lights and perspectives, to underlying emotions , a slow stir that moves the unconscious, with their age old signage and symbolism . The hoary past looms large ,captured skillfully through well composed, interesting angles and directions of light.
The poetry flows, as the skills parallel the beauty of the structures, idols and sculptures. They are explored to heighten the hidden, underlying, unfathomable feelings. The flying gandharvas, the poignant Buddha, floral patterns, unending arches, stairways create a movement and rhythm, unveil a sensual quality. Light flows on the pillared structures and arches creating resonances of inexplicable deep silences .In the changing patterns of the clouds, the expanse of the sky and sometimes the reflections in the water add exciting dimensions, explored to enhance the mood in an abstracted quality.
The ruggedness of the Golconda fort, their exposed stone works, ruins, arches and surrounding rocks have a handsome appeal compared to the dramatic play of on the dark black stone sensuousness of the Katatiya temples. The ruin of the Kakatiya fort recreate stories of yore and valor while the intricate carving of the Halebid sculptures of men women, bird and animal create amorous poetics.
Fragile ornate Hoyasala sculptures weave stories, myths of heavenly otherworldly creatures, here festivity is at play, contrasting the poignancy of the Buddha at the Badami caves and the handsome demeanor of Hampi remains of the Vijayanagar architecture .Symbolism prevails high in the likes of the elephants standing guard or the flowing Lingas .Man remains a solitary bystander in the silences recreated in these photographs .
Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Sacred Breath metaphysical abstracts
from 22nd Aug 2009 to September 11 2009
A group of artists from india Curated By Dr.Avani Rao Gandra
Curator Note
In Indian philosophy , contemplation , introspection of an object, a vision or an idol has been an age old phenomenon, towards reaching the supreme self. Meditative thought and reflection has been the basis of many practices in art history.
Abstract practices of spiritual , ethereal, healing, mystical visions in many variations of application and process bind the age old concepts with new idioms connecting the self and the world . Artists aimed at touching the nucleus of life and living, sanctifying arenas of canvas or paper.
In this show we have a selection of such practices that induce meditative and metaphysical process and content ranging from philosophy,divination mandalas , sacred geometry and organic nature forms. The super natural and the iconic merge with the natural and the sensual, with their sacred breath.
IN ESSENCE minimal art
Life seems to reside in the most simplest of forms. Simple forms like the seed and womb carry the universe within them. The grain of soil , sheet of rain drops , veins of a leaf , the spiral shell, the sun , moon ,earth, the most simplest of forms , hold the most vital elements of life .The geometric, organic patterns in nature seem to contain multiple meanings , allusions , illusions. Stripped to its essentials, the naked truth unarmed , without lengthy storylines , contained yet pervasive , controlled ,regulated yet liberated , Minimal art genre was the answer to these artists . They wanted to lay in bare essentials, of line, form, colour, light, texture, a larger experience. To uncover simple truths with unpretentious austerity are these drawings, paintings, sculptures, etchings, relief’s done in minimal art practice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
