Catching the eye, touching the soul

Uma Nair, The Hindu, February 12, 2018
The India Art Fair, held in the Capital annually, is much loved by art aficionados. Reflecting the current art scene in the country, it offers insights into what is new in terms of artists and their works. Unlike previous years when the IAF was big, baggy and bursting at the seams, this time around it is teeming with a cohesive, well-knit collection that celebrates refreshing practices and materials, from the past as well as present. Here are five works that engaged both the lay and the discerning audience at this prestigious event.
 

"Untitled Madonna" by Jamini Roy, DAG

 At the DAG Navratna suite in a tightly designed veiled jalli enclosure sits an "Untitled Madonna" by the modern master Jamini Roy. Picked up by DAG at the Christie's May, 2016 sale in London, this is a rare, masterpiece. Detailed in the classic Byzantine style with pointillist dots and treated like a stained glass window of churches in Europe this work is a testimony to Jamini Roy's felicity and fecundity with the power of the contour. It is the treatment of colour in a slate grey worthy of reverence and spiritual fervour that balances against the ochre amber shades in the background. While Madonna's face is a curious round doll-shaped visage, it is the drapes of her folds with a suggestion of a printed material which entices.
 
"We decided that it was important to curate a tightly-knit tribute that needs to be designed in the language of an international aesthetic," says Kishore Singh, curator, Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) and art critic. DAG collaborated with French scenographer, Adrien Gardère, who created an artistic niche. Navratna: Nine Gems, at the Fair, is a tribute to India's legendary artists such as Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Sailoz Mukherjee, and more.
 
 
"Face of a Girl" by Jogen Chowdhury, Sanchit Art
"A drawing is about being able to cultivate the body and spirit. I don't think art is about a pretty picture, it is about translating expression and character. Working with the basic nature of a person is very much a characteristic of my work; I draw upon natural elements of people's faces for inspiration," explains Jogen Chowdhury at the Sanchit Art Booth.
 
Jogen's "Face of a Girl" framed in a thick black frame is the piece de resistance of the collection. It is the study of a profile - you have to look at the mellifluous lines and cross hatching textural details to be drawn into the world of naturality of a master mentor and artist who celebrates the human form in the oldest tools available to an artist - pencil, pastel, pen and ink and paper.
 
The almond shaped eyes, the exaggerated eyebrow and the expression with long slender lips - everything becomes part of the alchemy. Jogen uses powerful, fluid lines with the pastel shades of cross hatching with an accuracy and depth so characteristic of his style. "There are very few artists who have his originality and his passion in terms of his technique," says Sanchit Joshan, Art Director who has been dealing with Modern masters for years. Sanchit Art will be bringing out a book on Jogen Chowdhury entitled Of Rain and Shine, Life and Art of Jogen Chowdhury by Arun Ghose.
 

"The pieces earth left behind" by Sudarshan Shetty, Gallery Ske

"I wonder if Sudarshan Shetty is part of the Gallery SKE show," says architect and sculptor Ankon Mitra. So step into B-1 and a long mud toned table 84 inches long greets your eyes. On this table are at least 60 objects created out of reclaimed wood - Indianesque looking kitchen vessels belonging to an age of antiquity - charming tiered tiffins, tea pots, an iron, a transistor and even a grinding stone but the most enticing object is a typewriter. "The pieces earth left behind," is Sudarshan's elegy to the lives lived on earth.

 

In that light of the end of man, the typewriter is an object of thought and matter. It brings forth the world of literature, communication, knowledge, and Sudarshan's brilliance in working with materials - the power of the stories he tells through these objects.

 

"I'm working on a book that looks at creating 100 objects - this is part of that process," says Sudarshan who has flown down from Mumbai. When asked if it is an extension of stories of an empty vessel, Sudarshan says: "Whether it is a humble vessel or an object such as a typewriter I have often wondered what defines them as symbols of a period. I am looking at the history, of people who have spent lifetime creating these objects. I'm bringing the future forward. It gives me a sense of reverence and resonance but pulls me into realities of invisible contrasts."

Talking about the meanings and contexts attached, Sudarshan says: "I don't bring meanings to objects, that is not my intention. I am interested in the evocation of meaning. A singular object can evoke multiple meanings, that is my search. These vessels/objects are about echoes of generations."

 

"Cosmos through a veil" by Sanjay Barot, Rukshaan Art Mumbai

Canvasses teeming with details - from a distance it looks like abstraction - step forward and see the borders are made of individual faces, the paintings of Baroda artist Sanjay Barot are fascinating to the point of rare treatment in composition.

Barot speaks of his sensibility, and says: "My creative process is really like my beliefs. They have travelled with me from when I moved from my village in Kapadvanj to the city that I now live in and love, Baroda. Layers and layers. Discovery and surprise. I return to my home town every six months and with every visit, the roots get stronger and help me cope with the chaos of city life. There is a juxtaposition of emotions, feelings and living standards that I have to balance, on and off the canvas."

 

"The Family 2007" by S. Paul, Wonderwall

S. Paul's 2007 portrait of a family taken in a park is a charming candid image of a husband and wife catching their breath and taking a nap on a cement bench while their son sits next to his father and the toddler plays on the ground. The mother and father are both lounging, what entices is the pose and configurations of expressions that Paul captured. The father's legs positioned in comfort while the mother sleeps sideways, interestingly both of them are looking directly into the camera - they are not self conscious in the least. The son is a picture of wide-eyed innocence.

 

Simplicity and humility both surface in this image - we are looking at a socio cultural statement in the hands of a master story teller.

To imagine that it has been shot in Delhi when days were rather languid and life was not so full of pressures is like a fragment from the yesteryear. It is the choreography of characters, their attire and their whole demeanour that positions this photograph as an iconic image of one of India's greatest photographers.