Showing posts with label Indian Art Scene. Show all posts

16 Dec 2024

Art News: India Art Festival Bengaluru, December 2024

India Art Festival Bengaluru, December 2024: A Grand Celebration of Art and Culture

Bengaluru: The much-awaited India Art Festival (IAF) is set to return to Bengaluru for its fourth edition, enthralling art lovers from December 19 to 22, 2024, at the Palace Ground, Kings Court. This edition promises to be the most expansive and diverse yet, bringing together an unprecedented number of participants to celebrate art.

India Art Festival, IAF Bangalore 2024, Image for Art Scene India

Lalu Prasad Shaw

With over 30 galleries and contributions from 350 artists representing 30 cities across India, the art festival will showcase a wide array of artistic expressions, from paintings and sculptures to photography, ceramics, and installations. This year’s IAF highlights the vibrancy of India’s contemporary art scene, providing a platform to explore its latest trends and innovations.

A Feast for Art Enthusiasts

Opening on December 19, the art festival offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in a rich tapestry of artistic diversity. Over 3,500 pieces of art, spanning oil paintings, acrylics, watercolours, installations, traditional art, and much more, will be displayed at the Kings Court, Palace Ground. The event aims to captivate both seasoned collectors and first-time buyers, ensuring a comprehensive art experience for all.

India Art Festival has consistently fostered a balance between supporting emerging talents and showcasing works by established artists, creating a unique platform for artistic expression. In this edition, young and independent artists will shine alongside eminent names, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary art.

Special Exhibitions and Events

Chandra Battacharya

A key highlight of this year’s India Art Festival is the curated exhibition, "Shaping Horizons: Karnataka’s Iconic Innovators," masterfully curated by Prof. K.S. Appajaiah. This remarkable showcase celebrates the pioneering works of 30 distinguished artists, including S.G. Vasudev, Gurudas Shenoy, M.S. Murthy, M.J. Kamalakshi, C. Chandrashekhar, J.S. Khanderao, V.G. Andani, Sudha Manohar, Hemavathi Umamaheswar, and others. Together, these luminaries have profoundly influenced and shaped Karnataka’s art landscape, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural fabric of the region. This exhibition is a tribute to their enduring legacy and a celebration of their visionary contributions to the world of art.

Laxman Aelay

IAF Creative Excellence Awards

The India Art Festival (IAF), a premier platform celebrating contemporary art and artists, proudly reintroduces its IAF Creative Excellence Awards in this edition. Established in 2011, these prestigious awards honor the creativity, innovation, and dedication of artists participating in the festival. Open to both independent artists and those represented by galleries, the awards recognize outstanding talent showcased across IAF editions in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Each award includes a memento, a certificate of appreciation, and a cash prize of ₹50,000, presented to two selected artists. The winners are chosen by an independent jury comprising two esteemed figures from the art world. The awards will be ceremoniously presented during the opening ceremony of the India Art Festival on December 19, 2024, at 11:30 AM at Kings Court, Palace Grounds, Bengaluru. This initiative underscores IAF's commitment to nurturing artistic excellence and celebrating the diverse talents that enrich the contemporary art scene.

Fusion Shows

Amit Bhar

Every year, the India Art Festival offers an enchanting convergence of music and visual art, blending the universally beloved medium of sound with the evocative, often intricate language of visual expression to craft an immersive sensory experience. This year, the festival elevates its cultural repertoire with captivating fusion performances and live painting sessions featuring renowned artists P. Gnana, Manjegowda, and Eby N Joseph, accompanied by exceptional musicians Subramanya Hegade (Sitar), Prasanna Ballal (Mandolin), Shrinidhi Katti (Flute), and Sandeep M (Tabla).

These dynamic collaborations will transform the festival into a vibrant cultural hub, offering audiences a harmonious interplay of art and music on December 20, 21, and 22, from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. This unique synthesis promises to captivate art and music enthusiasts alike, enriching their festival experience with creativity and inspiration.

Film Screenings

The other highlight of the India Art Festival, Bengaluru, is the screening of the enlightening film, "The Eternal Canvas – 12,000 Years Journey through Indian Art." This cinematic masterpiece offers an immersive exploration of India’s rich artistic heritage, tracing its evolution from prehistoric cave paintings to the vibrant expressions of contemporary art.

Through captivating visuals and compelling narratives, the film provides a panoramic journey across millennia, celebrating the profound creativity and cultural legacy of Indian art. Visitors are invited to experience this visual odyssey on December 20, 21, and 22, with screenings scheduled from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM each day.
This feature adds a dynamic dimension to the festival, offering an educational and inspiring experience for art enthusiasts and history lovers alike.

Praveen Kumar

Artistic Pavilion and Global Participation

This year’s Artists’ Pavilion will feature 300 independent artists presenting their works alongside 100 established artists represented by galleries. Participating galleries include Bengaluru-based Space Edge, Sara Arakkal Galerie, and Gallery Charvi, along with prominent names from Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and beyond, including international galleries like Gnani Arts (Singapore) and Artconcept (Dubai).

Participating Art Galleries:

Bengaluru : Space Edge, Sara Arakkal Galerie, Shiny Colors Art Gallery, ReIGNITE EDTECH PVT LTD, Akanksha Art Gallery, iArt Gallery, ASR Art Studio, Gallery Charvi

Mumbai: House of Emerge, Rhythm Art, Studio Monica Ghule, Studio Pankaj Bawdekar, Nitya Artists Centre, Bouquet of Art Gallery

New Delhi & NCR: Gallery Pioneer, Pastel Tale, OPS Art Gallery, Uchaan, Artecious World Art Gallery, Aura Planet, Artehut, Merakii Art House, Eminent Art Gallery,

Gnani Arts, Singapore, Artconcept, Dubai
Artsbreeze Art Gallery, Hyderabad, Pichwaiwala Narendra Art, Udaipur, Smita Art, Kolkata
M Narayan Studio from Pune.

Event Details

Dates: December 19 to 22, 2024
Venue: Kings Court, Palace Ground, Gate No. 5, Bellary Road, Near Mekhri Circle, Bengaluru
Timings: 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Tickets: Day Pass ₹299, & Season Pass ₹499 available on BookMyShow.com and at the venue

- Excerpt from press release

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13 Sept 2024

Art News: MAP, Bengaluru Appoints Harish Vasudevan As Acting Director

Harish Vasudevan as Acting Director of MAP

Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, India announced the appointment of Harish Vasudevan as Acting Director on September 9th, 2024.

Reflecting on the continuing development of the museum from its roots as the first digital museum in India, and the successful opening of its building in Bengaluru in February 2023, the appointment is designed to prepare the organisation for further growth.

In over three decades of experience, Harish has held several leadership roles in multiple geographies, with companies like Ogilvy & Mather as well as IBM. He is also a published author and teacher. Over the last six months Harish has been consulting with MAP on Marketing and Operations.

Besides working with all the Heads of departments across Education, Collections,
Conservation, Inclusion, Marketing & Communications, Design and Development, Harish
will be further supported by Dr. Arnika Ahldag, Head of Curation and Exhibitions at MAP.

Commenting on the announcement, Abhishek Poddar, Founder and President of MAP said “As we looked at our plans for the future, we were looking for someone with the skills to develop the organisation, while also strengthening the brand. Harish has just the right combination of expertise and experience to build on the foundation that MAP has laid over the last few years.”

“The first time I entered MAP I fell in love with it. I am honoured to get a chance to lead this fabulous team as we get ready for Phase 2 of MAP’s impressive journey as India’s first new museum to open in a decade.”, says Harish Vasudevan — Acting Director, MAP.

- Excerpt from press release

15 Mar 2023

Art News: Wilderness Escapades by Krish Iyer

Reconnecting with the past

Bangalore based artist Krish Iyer presents his recent suite of paintings that reimagine sculptures of Khajuraho temples, which decades ago, had set him on a path of creative expression. Iyer revisited the site recently, which is located in a densely forested region, rich in natural flora and fauna. In the temple art and architecture with its iconographic symbolism and its philosophical and spiritual moorings, Iyer has found a way to reconnect with the past, and re-envision it in his art, in a contemporary context.

Abstract painting 1 by Krish Iyer, Art Scene India

Painting by Krish Iyer

The large format paintings in ‘Wilderness Escapades’ reference these sculptures and the underlying premises, to create a spatial interplay of light, colour and texture to suggest the form, postures and gestures of the stone statues in a quasi-representational style. The artist’s interpretations are moored around the historicity of the temples, their geography - located as it is amidst forested land and wilderness, with their beauty and splendor remaining undiscovered for centuries. And, their subsequent desecration by invaders, all of which weave an intriguing narrative of mystery and mystique, of magnificence and ruin, of worldwide fame and remoteness. The art and architecture of the Khajuraho temples combined with their religious, cultural and historical significance form an intrinsic part of their allure. Numerous stories, philosophies and other intangibles lie beneath the surface of the stones, creating sagas of seduction, lure and enigma.

Krish’s canvases explore these histories, the abstracted notions of human potential, philosophies of living, corporeality of the flesh and temporality of life. The visual semantics are anchored in formal aesthetics, with defined line drawings marking the canvas, while the abstract expressionist approach at later stages lends critical layers of texture, and simultaneously recontextualizes historical content.

Painting by Krish Iyer

The tactile surface of the works emerges from heavy textures, layers of dripping paint, and several applications of thick acrylic paint using the impasto technique. The palette knife and other tools transform the canvas, to add depth and dimension, to strip off extraneity and to emphasize salient features of the physical form. Transcendence, man and nature (re)union, the cycle of life and rebirth, and joy of living are some of the key principles that are depicted at Khajuraho temples, and it is these that Krish seeks and attempts to portray in his works. The deliberate obliteration of details in the figures, and the structurally accurate forms that replicate their defiled state, are incandescent with the ironies of transience – both natural and as outcomes of anarchist interventions.

Despite the precision of line drawings that form the basis of the works, Iyer’s methodology is essentially non-mimetic. The gradual yet decidedly gestural transformation of the painting surface as a pictorial array of subconscious thoughts and patterns rescinds identifiable characteristics and accentuates the metaphorical import.

After a successful career in commercial art, Krish has returned to painting with this solo exhibition - to pursue subjects and themes that resonate with him. A chance encounter with the Khajuraho temples almost three decades ago, stayed with him through the years and a strange yearning drew him back to them recently. This series originated from the revisit, marked by an innate desire to reconnect with nature, and to allow subconscious thoughts and emotions to surface and transform on canvas. With this exhibition, Krish attempts to break the invisible shackles that have contained his creativity all these years and to realize his inner potential.

Nalini S Malaviya
Art Critic
March, 2023

- Catalogue text

The exhibition 'Wilderness Escapades' continues from March 20-26 at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore. For further details contact 9900094466. Visit Wilderness Escapades (krishiyer.in)

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1 Dec 2022

Art News: India Art Festival in Bangalore

India Art Festival attracts over 30 galleries and 400 artists for its second edition in the city

The 2nd Edition of India Art Festival (IAF) in the city starting from December 08 – 11 at the Palace Ground, Kings Court, Gate No. 5, Bellary Road, has grown in scale and size this year, bringing cutting-edge contemporary art to the city, presented by over 30 Art Galleries and 400 artists, coming from 40 different cities across India, Singapore and USA.

Opening on December 08, the 2nd Bengaluru edition of IAF will bring all forms of artistic expressions in the art fair including painting, sculptures, photography, ceramics, installations, offering insights into current art trends in India and Asian diaspora.

India Art Festival, Bangalore, Image for Art Scene India

Aditiraje Bhonsle

Founded in 2011 by the publishers of Indian Contemporary Art Journal, IAF is the only art fair held annually in three metro cities and which has mounted 22 editions so far at Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.

Whether, it is a seasoned art collector, or a new art buyer who want to acquire the first piece of art, the India Art Festival with 4000 pieces of art across 100 booths, on display at the Palace Ground is a perfect place to fall in love with art. At IAF, the art collectors are spoilt for choices to choose from many mediums and styles - oil paintings, acrylics, water colour, original prints, installations, drawings in myriad styles dealing with varied subjects including landscapes, figurative, abstracts, cityscapes, seascapes, urban and rural scenarios, portraits, nudes, semi-nudes, religious art, traditional paintings, murals, warli art and many more.

The master artists displayed by the galleries include Sakti Burman, Yusuf Arakkal, Lalu Prasad Shaw, S G Vasudev, Laxman Aelay, Gurudas Shenoy, Laxma Goud, Jatin Das, Jogen Chowdhury, Manu Parekh, N S Harsha, P Gnana, Seema Kohli and many others.

Yusuf Arakkal

The Artists’ Pavilion with individual booths by independent artists is so designed as to create a dialogue between the viewers and the art maker, and the artist. It also encourages dialogue between the art market and the artists directly. Here the sale and purchase of the artwork is on an open platform and the buyer or collector can approach an artist and the choices are numerous.

Vinita Dasgupta

This kind of freedom is rarely possible as both the artist and the buyers benefit from this arrangement. India Art Festival Director Rajendra says, "the process of democratizing ‘art viewing and buying’ initiated twelve years ago in Mumbai sort of became a movement; the growing interest in Indian contemporary art slowly made this movement spread to New Delhi and Bengaluru covering significant length and breaths of our country."

Apart from 200 established artists exhibited by art galleries, more than 200 independent artists are displaying in the ‘Artists’ pavilion’ at the art festival. The subjects broached by the artists vary from personal experiences to intense narratives.

Dhyana Das

'Tripurasundari’, a feminine mystique of the goddess by artist Dhyana Das and Kalyani Ravishankar’s ‘Radha-Krishna’, both blend the nuances of classical paintings and contextualize them within Indian religious sensibilities.

In another instance, artist Karthik Kamath, Sonali Surana and Tejaswi depicts embodiment of renunciation, Buddha, the enlightened one in his splendid aura with wavy hair curls & the monastic robe covering both shoulders and arranged in heavy classical folds.

Sunitha Krishna, Smita BP, Kalyani Sinha and Tripti Pandey indulge in an artistic imagery using religious images, cultural symbols and motifs that touches the spiritual chord of the viewers.

Artists Gaurav Dagar, Jyothi Prakash and Prakash Bal Joshi beguile the viewers with their abstract composition using pure forms & colours, whereas artist Muthukrishnan Ramalingam and Rajitha Bonthala chose the middle path of semi-abstract idiom to present their visual stories.

Wildlife, animal and bird paintings is one of the oldest art forms found since ancient times in the cave art. Animal and bird art have come a long way since then in technique and imagination and occupies major part of the contemporary art space in India. Artist Isha Valentine’s symbolic deer with antlers, Priyanka Sehgal’s Sunbird, big cats and elephant by artist Apurba Das, Shakila Ananth and Sudha Anandampillai displayed in the art festival is a fusion of art elements found in Bundi style of traditional art with contemporary times.

Akshata Shetty

The black and white paintings displayed in the art festival by Akshata Shetty, Beena Surana, Om Thadkar, Preeti Baliga, and Priyanka Maurya prove that the paintings need not have to be always done in striking colours to create visual splendour! Viewers are bound to be mesmerize by the unfolding visual drama of muted blacks, ash greys, dark flashes, starry whites with harsh shadows employed in the work of Om Tadkar in his galloping white stallion, whereas Priyanka Mauraya’s dreamy flowery land and symbolic portraits of all sorts by Akshata Shetty and Preeti Baliga creates powerful viewing; these paintings can go with entire range of minimalist modern décor & interior to create aesthetic ambience around living spaces.

Since ancient times to modern times, from fertility goddess to modern-day multitasker, artists have always enjoyed exploring the subject matter of women folk in art. But when the subject is explored by female artists herself, it assumes different significance like artist Geeta Yerra, Parul Sharma and Swati Burde who are exhibiting in the art festival.

P Gnana

The figurative works by Ravi Verma and Vanita Gupta along with Atul Todi and Jayaram Krishna’s figures emerging through geometric patterns on closer look is an added in attraction for viewers.

The notion of beautiful and sublime with sharp contrasts of light and shadow is exemplified in the landscapes by Poornima Deepak and Reema Ravindran whereas Deepshikha Bishoyi, Mridul Garg, Pooja Muthuraj, Shankari Kundu, T V Sairam and Vidhu Pillai prefers suggestive style of abstract landscape which focuses more on expressing emotion while still capturing the essence of a landscape. Seena Mani’s cityscape, Aditiraje Bhonsle, and Kasturi Dutta’s flowerscape are different genre in landscape painting in the art festival that would leave a lasting impression on the viewers.

Among several others noticeable works by master artists, the artists pavilion present a fresh face of India Art Festival at the Garden city. India Art Festival, with mammoth art collection of all sorts of art under one roof is a one stop mega art jamboree for art enthusiasts in this week to enjoy art without getting tired in hopping around art paces in city!

The participating art galleries include Akanksha Art Gallery, Charvi Art Gallery, Green Footprint

Laxman Aelay

Art Gallery, H Art Gallery, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Sara Arakkal Gallerie (all Bengaluru), ArtDesh Foundation, Artvista, House of Emerge, Nitya Artists Center, Studio Pankaj Bawdekar, Studio Rustgrey, Studio3 Art Gallery, The Bombay Art Society, thecurators.art (Mumbai) , ArteHut, Eminent Art Gallery, Gallery Pioneer, Nifa Art Gallery, Gallery Vision Art (New Delhi), Pastel Tale & Uchaan (Gurgaon), Gnani Arts (Singapore), Kalabhawan (Agartala), M Narayan Studio (Pune), Pichwai by Beyond Square (Udaipur) and Subodh Fine Art Studio (California, USA) among others.

India Art Festival will be on from 08 to 11 Dec 2022 at Kings Court, Palace Ground, Gate No.5, Bellary Road, Near Mekhri Circle, Bengaluru from 11 am- 8.30pm on all days.

For further details contact: 9820737692

Excerpted from the press release

2 Mar 2022

Cut Pieces by KP Reji at The Guild

The Guild presents “Cut Pieces”, a much awaited solo exhibition of recent works by Baroda based artist K. P. Reji at The Guild, Alibaug.

K. P. Reji at The Guild, Art Scene India

The show is the first presentation in the silver jubilee year of the gallery. Reji’s works are known for their witty take on the state machinery and its multiple modes of ordering of lives of people. In this recent body of works he takes a new direction in exploring this. The meticulously constructed canvases offer a newer language, and furthermore, newer narratives in his repertoire. “K.P. Reji’s oeuvre, marked by its frontal narrative overtures and enigmatic subterranean, political sites, propels us to think about the need to define beauty in a new ontological setting. This drive is evident in his move, on the one hand, towards an allegorical mode of narratology, and a counter-move to suspend the narratorial through the ‘decoratively-real’ exteriors and interiors, on the other. In an intriguing manner, many of his works present themselves to us as allegories on practices, and works of art; as an artistic rumination on representational dilemmas of narrative idioms.

These representational dilemmas stem from an artistic contemplation and reasoning regarding the nature of the political in the discursive universe of what can be broadly called aesthetical practices. Reji’s artistic propositions often remind us, in a Freudian analytical way, that the experience of beauty is bound up with, or is a form of mourning; it is a life-affirming act even though what one is dealing with is the most abominable. His works can be read perhaps as a pharmakon, which ex-poses the melancholies of our time; or better put, in-stances inertias that cloud our thinking and action. In a way, it presences the element of the violence of the sublime—at times, through the fracturing and fragmenting (and tearing) of form, materiality, proportion, and even composition, for the sake of the aesthetic encounter. The constant reinvention of unforeseen potentials of the affective fields of percepts and language Enables this body of work by Reji to enact the redistribution of the sensible, and thereby, open up newer possibilities of the political and the aesthetical.

In the overall schema of this exhibition, both the phenomenology and politics of perception are evoked through the spectral presence of multiple acts of blinding. It seems that the coming together of these works proposes that only in blinding perception can the claims of colour and line be restituted, and with them, finally, the authority of the fragile and harassed human body.” – Excerpt from “Beauty as Pharmakon”, essay by Dr. Santhosh S

The exhibition continues till April 5, 2022

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8 Dec 2021

Tattvamasi by Artist Mohan Shingne

Spurts of Enigma: Nikhil Purohit writes on the art practice of Mohan Shingne

An artist with formalist fervor operates both as an agent and a vessel for creation. Contemporary Indian art today is a mix-bag of several ideas from world art merged with indigenous aesthetic blends. It liberates an artist like Mohan Shingne to cross the roads with ideas of modernist abstraction and impulsive sculptural responses to a medley of found objects imparting meanings to resulting objects.

Untitled painting by Mohan Shingne, Art Scene India

A nuanced rendition through self-experienced perspective is the notion one ought to look for the works of Shingne rather than novelty. The artist has a dedicated hybrid practice. Firstly, of making sculptures with a conscious thematic of collaging shapes and found objects. Secondly, of paintings worked out as a process of self-exploration like an ardent devotee revealing the inner workings of a contemplative mind. He holds an intimate attachment to his role as an art educator besides following sculpting and painting as primary modes of expression.

With a humble upbringing in a family of goldsmiths, Mohan’s small and life size sculptures carry the craftsmanship and flair for detailing with a remarkable finesse. Poetry for him becomes a source for insinuating his feelings towards the inanimate world around that catches his attention. Words seem to be a storeroom to accumulate his notes for later visual conversions as idioms. It allows to gain a sense of Zen like feeling to learn how objects- mostly rustic, aged, and redundant become one with his psyche and finally at an immersive moment the object is released into a sculpture or flat surface. With a share of hardships in his early life the phase gifted him with a connect toward wordless conversations with things around. A link that has lent subtlety to his paintings and harmony to his 3D objects.

All this process hints at romance with formalism, yet Shingne finds gaps to escape rigidity in practice and breakthrough from monotony by experimenting with the found objects, clubbing them together. He happens to follow a formula of an uncanny juxtaposition where “Form + Form = Form, Form - Form=Form”. Perhaps the equation is an inert one where the principal element always stays. A philosophical take where the utilitarian thought in the object is discounted to abate a metaphor with mysticism.

Sculpture by Mohan Shingne, Art Scene India

The set of new achromatic works made during the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period instills mixed feelings of emptiness, seclusion, loneliness, remorsefulness, silence, hope, and perseverance. The general theme of the series in dark shades with subtle textural notes has rectangular divisions annotated with few rhythmic curves breaking the grid formation. This releases the built-in tension formed after continuously watching the work. These works almost remind the ravishing paintings of veteran artist Jeram Patel, though the method of covering the space takes a different visual course. The underlying organic forms are nothing but triggers to melody.

One sculptural collage arouses satire and amuses us. The cylinder works were made by him before the onset of second wave where one could barely imagine how the situation could turn to be grave medically. Hailing from the goldsmith’s family these cans are part of his families’ occupational supplies. Mohan made use of these empty cans to revise their identity by introducing commonplace objects. The juxtaposition can only be admired by the viewer for the ease of mix-match where the two unrelated objects of a can and those of a buttermilk churner, a bowl, and an oil lamp respectively are bonded together. The experimenter within the artist allows spurts of delight and ecstasy.

Faithfully abiding by the tenets of formalism Mohan’s works continue to entice enigma.

Tattvamasi by Mohan Shingne, a Solo Show of Paintings and Sculpture continues till 10th December 2021 at Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi

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19 Oct 2021

'Ghan Phut' by Shraddha Rathi at Kalakriti Art Gallery

Nostalgia in Wood

Pieces of ancient carved wood have been transformed into art installations at the solo exhibition ‘Ghan Phut’ by Bangalore based artist Shraddha Rathi. These strike a nostalgic note at Kalakriti Art Gallery in Hyderabad. Celebrating revitalization and renewal, the art works are as much symbols and remnants of melancholy and heritage as an ode to the centuries old craft of exquisite wood carving.

Shraddha describes the artworks as ‘the contrasting confluence of modern day concrete blocks and a century old piece of carved wood which reveal the impermanence of life today and the strength of yester times’.

Born in 1974, Rathi studied performing arts and architecture. A practicing artist for more than fifteen years now, her initial paintings drew inspiration from her architecture and classical dance background. From hyperrealistic paintings of exquisite carvings and sculptures of ancient India she gravitated towards abstraction and installation art. She experimented with installations in wood and metal that combined paint and text to create a play with the display space as well. A series of functional wood pieces formed interactive art that could engage the viewer at another level. The gratitude bench with text related to gratitude engraved on it was the highlight of this show held a few years ago.

Recently, when Shraddha came across carved reclaimed wooden pieces that were more than a century old, her formal background in architecture and her desire to draw attention to the magnificence of these pieces, which are often discarded as architectural waste, inspired her to transform them into art installations. She worked with carved pieces that were originally parts of structural elements of havelis and wadas, to uncover and reveal the beauty of each cubic foot of wood.

Through an elaborate process of reclamation and renewal, Shraddha has attempted to locate these visual markers of culture and history in a contemporary context. She feels each piece is unique and has a story to narrate from its rich and eloquent past.

As she says, “Ghan phut celebrates the unusual convergence of the past and the present, through stories that come alive with reconstruction and revitalization.”

The exhibition is online here at Kalakriti Art Gallery

31 Jul 2021

Art Bytes - Sparking Conversations Around Art

An ALL Bangalore Fine Arts Chapter initiative

By Jyoti C Singh Deo

The art scene in a Covid ridden world is bound to be on the back burner, or so it seems, but the art scene in a little pocket of Bangalore has been bubbling with activity. All Ladies League, better known as ALL was founded by Dr Harbeen Arora with the sole aim to connect women from various fields of life and to empower them. The onus lay upon pathfinders like Suchitra Kaul Misra, ALL Karnataka Chairperson and Nalini Malaviya, art consultant, curator and writer, who set up the Bangalore Fine Arts Chapter, three years ago. Nalini, with the support of the members of the group, has been instrumental in implementing several initiatives that connect artists and art connoisseurs.

Art Bytes - Sparking Conversations Around Art An ALL Bangalore Fine Arts Chapter initiative

ALL Bangalore Fine Arts Chapter Launch in September, 2018

In recent times, artists have been confined to their homes and this has been an ideal time for them to bring alive their canvases. ALL has been a perfect platform to showcase artworks by women artists. The fine arts Bangalore chapter has begun a series of Art Talks called ‘Art Bytes’ that showcases member artists from the city. The series delves into the works of artists and gives the audience an opportunity to interact with them.

The series of interaction began with Anjana Chandak, an artist, poet and performer, who is well known for her monologues, especially on Draupadi and Ahalya. Her artworks convey a rich spiritual side of her. Jyoti C Singh Deo, an artist, poet, writer and activist digs into her childhood days spent in the industrial town of Jamshedpur and coalfields of Jharkhand to create beautiful artworks. Her art depicts the apathy meted out to the labourers who work at the coalfields. G S Bhavani, an artist who is passionate about nature spoke about her works related to the conservation of River Cauvery. Her rock installations on the river bed and floral installations in natural environs are testimony of a heart that glows for the green world.

Next in line on Aug 2, are chapter vice-chair, Jyoti Gupta, a multidisciplinary artist working with mediums like acrylic, resin, inks and clay. These contribute to her sublime work with a unique style of art. Her work has been featured in several national and international events. And, Sharmila Aravind, who has actively engaged with art in its myriad forms - visual arts, directing documentaries, writing poetry, children's rhymes and singing. It has been an ongoing journey of self exploration and expression through multiple mediums.

Art Bytes is a journey that would be featuring more artists in the coming months.

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27 Mar 2021

#arttrackwithnalini: Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

#arttrackwithnalini - 01 on 31st March 2021, 6 pm

Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

Speakers: Baiju Parthan, Harshit Agrawal and Shovin Bhattacharjee

Moderator: Nalini S Malaviya

Join us here WICCI Arts Leadership Council | Facebook on 31st March, 6 pm IST

#arttrackwithnalini - 01, Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

In the current context, it is important to have a conversation on the relevance and scope of digital art, algorithms and NFTs in the Indian and global scenario. This panel attempts to locate digital art production, the import, originality and criticality of the image with regards to current trends, technological interventions, digital ownership and environmental implications of blockchain technology, if any.

Join me as I kick start #arttrackwithnalini, a series of conversations, online for now and hopefully in person soon, with experts in the field.

Recently a digital piece, by Beeple sold as an NFT for 69 million dollars at Christie’s. This has created quite a buzz, understandably. It is after all the 3rd highest priced work by a living artist.

But what does it mean for the art world, especially in the Indian context.

So, let's talk about the relevance and scope of digital art, algorithms and NFTs with Baiju Parthan, Harshit Agrawal and Shovin Bhattacharjee, All 3 are extremely well known, inter-media artists who have been in the digital space and technology art for years, and who understand blockchain, cryptoart, artificial Intelligence and NFTs.

Some of the points we hope to cover are with regards to digital art production, what does originality and criticality of the image imply today, the role of technology then in the art making and distribution, what does digital ownership mean and are there any environmental implications of blockchain technology.

Let’s just start this conversation and see how much ground we can cover in this first session.

Join us here WICCI Arts Leadership Council | Facebook on 31st March, 6 pm IST

Meet our panel

Speakers

Baiju Parthan on #arttrackwithnalini - 01, Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

Baiju Parthan is a Mumbai based inter-media artist, working simultaneously with traditional media of painting as well as new media and digital technology based installation art. He is one of the early exponents of new media art and mediatic-realism in the Indian contemporary art scene. His work explores worldviews and ideologies that are in collision and the resulting ontological fallout felt and lived by all of us.

His work in the digital realm consists mainly of explorations into the mutating boundary where the virtual and real bleed into each other. Through a range of computer generated virtual objects presented as video installations, large scale prints on metallic surfaces, and 3D lenticular prints, Parthan manages to present a critique on high technology and its impact on our life and experience of reality.

He has participated in several landmark exhibitions including, New Interventions in Indian Art, China Art Museum Shanghai & Gaungdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China 2015, INDIA!, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB), Rio de Janeiro 2012, Indian Contemporary, Benedictine Museum, Fecamp, France, 2009, Beyond Globalization, Beijing, 2009, 101 Contemporary, Tokyo, 2008, International Live Art Festival Glasgow 2004, Kapital and Karma, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria 2002, and has shown at several important art fairs.

Harshit Agrawal on #arttrackwithnalini - 01, Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

Harshit Agrawal is an artist working with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. He is India’s first artificial intelligence artist, being the only Indian artist among 7 international AI art pioneers in the world’s first A.I art show in a contemporary gallery (Gradient Descent at Nature Morte). In his practice, he uses machines and algorithms and often creates them as an essential part of his art process, embracing becoming the cyborg artist. Harshit’s work is part of the permanent exhibition at the largest computer science museum in the world, HNF museum in Germany. He has exhibited work at other premier museums, galleries and art festivals around the world, like the Ars Electronica Festival (Austria), Asia Culture Center (Gwangju Korea), CADAF Contemporary and Digital Art Fair, HIRESOLUTION Exhibition for New Year’s Ball Drop at Times Square (USA), Museum of Tomorrow (Brazil), among others. He has given several talks at the subject of A.I and Art, including 3 TEDx talks. His work has also been extensively covered in international media, including BBC, New York Times, Artnet, Artsy, STIR World. Harshit has carried out residencies at the Museum of Tomorrow (Brazil), Art Center Nabi (Korea) and X-Lab (Japan). He graduated from the MIT Media Lab and IIT Guwahati. Along with his art practice, he has authored several publications and patents about his work at the intersection of human computer interaction and creative expression. He currently lives and works out of Bangalore, India.

Shovin Bhattacharjee on #arttrackwithnalini - 01, Contextualizing Digital Art, Algorithms and NFTs

Shovin Bhattacharjee is an artist working with painting, sculpture, digital art, new media art and public art installation. A pioneering digital artist, he is India’s first artist entering into an NFT art auction.

Born and brought up in Shillong (Meghalaya), he received his BFA and MFA degree in fine arts from Assam University, Silchar, and a diploma in conservation techniques from NRLC, Lucknow in 2002. Shovin has held seven solo shows with the Indian Cultural Centre Seoul, South Korea, in collaboration with Indian Art Museum at Seoul, South Korea.

He has also participated in National and International Exhibitions like “Spirit of India” Embassy of India, Lisbon in association with Art Catto Gallery at Conrad Hotel, Algrave, Portugal; 1st Digital Art Biennial, Brazil; Guanlan International print Biennial, China, India-Korea Art Exchange exhibition at Korean Cultural Center, New Delhi; “HANJI FESTIVAL” exhibition at Korean Cultural Center, New Delhi. 13th Asian Art Biennale organized by The Bangladesh Shilpa kala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 6th 7th and 8th International print Biennale organized by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; “Icon of Asia” International show at EM Art Gallery, Beijing, China; International print Biennale, Finland; Harmony Art shows organized by Harmony Art Foundation, Mumbai; All India Digital Art Exhibition, A.I.F.A.C.S., New Delhi; etc.

Shovin’s work is part of the permanent collection at the Indian Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea, CICA museum, South Korea; Lalit kala Akademi, New Delhi; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Manipur Museum, Meghalaya State museum. Indian Cultural Centre, Seoul, South Korea; Art Catto, Portugal; He currently lives and works in New Delhi, India.

Moderator

Nalini S Malaviya is a Bangalore based art consultant, curator and writer. She curates contemporary art exhibitions, working with visual artists from across the country and offers curatorial and advisory services to individuals and corporate. She has been writing for the media since 2003, and has been an art columnist for Bangalore Mirror and has contributed to Financial Times (Delhi and Bangalore) and Times of India, Deccan Herald, several art magazines and artist books. She has written and presented papers for the Karnataka Lalithkala Academy Journal and several of her prefatory essays have been published as part of artist catalogues.

Some of her curatorial projects include ‘Convergence,’ an online exhibition as part of an art and media collective, ‘Bend’ an exhibition of sculptures, ‘Parallax of Visual Memories’, ‘Reimagining: (Un)Reality and Space’, 'Irreverent Gene' and ‘Polynomials of Relevance’.

Nalini is the Founder/Publisher of 'Art Scene India' www.artsceneindia.com, a popular blog cum Ezine featuring art news, events and articles on art, and is a resource center for artists and connoisseurs. Currently, she has a fortnightly art column for Sunday Herald, and is Member, Advisory Committee, National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore. She is also the Karnataka President for Arts Leadership Council, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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