Solitary Companions: A Critique of Naina Dalal’s Paintings
(Naina Dalal)The title ‘Solitary Companions’ tells it all; the mood of the retrospective of Naina Dalal, curated by Girish Shahane and presented by Splash Art Gallery, Gurugram, at Travancore House,...
View ArticleDELHI COLLAGE OF ART: An Art Carnival that could Grow into An Art Fair
(Ashwani Kumar Prithviwasi: The Founder Director of Delhi Collage of Art. It is a portrait painted by Piyush Aswal, a first year student at the DCA)Delhi Collage of Art. The misspelling is...
View ArticleWhite Cube Versus Colorful Walls: Galleries and Changing Visual Experiences
(Image courtesy: Net)White, as far as galleries are concerned, is not a racial index. Ironically, it stands for neutrality. It reflects all lights, all thoughts and all visual engagements. It...
View ArticleBlinding Visual Silence of Artists from Kerala and Elsewhere During the Gaza...
(Work by Banksy in Gaza)Art is the child of its circumstances. Art could happen in isolation but the resultant work is always a product of its own physical and intellectual environments. Sometimes,...
View ArticleWhen Someone Places Curio Shops over Art Galleries and Works of Art
(Screenshot of a message sent to me by a senior woman artist)“Yesterday I was asked by a visitor to the exhibition why should he pay so much more for “an art piece“ when he could get something better...
View ArticleProf.B.N.Goswamy No More: A Quick Portrait of the Art Historian
(Prof. B.N.Goswami 1933-2023)Prof.B.N.Goswamy, the renowned art historian is no more. He was ninety years old. A man who inherited his classy lifestyle and erudition during the tumultuous years of...
View ArticleDo Not Mistake Sher-Gil’s Money as Indian Women Artists’ Gain
(Story Teller by Amrita Sher-Gil sold for Rs.61.8 Cr)Amrita Sher-Gil is in news again, obviously for monetary reasons only. Of late people speak about art when it fetches exorbitant prices in the...
View ArticleFemale Artists in the Land of Male Artists: The Curious Case of Kishori Kaul
While standing in front of the paintings of Kishori Kaul, a question flashes in my mind. Is her visual language male or female? Language is neutral and devoid of gender, they say. But we know that...
View ArticleHouse of Memories and the Strange Pilgrimage of Objects: A Note on the...
(Yaad Ghar, Installation by Aakshat Sinha)Objects are the products of history. An object having an existence without history cannot be called an object. Objects are cursed to carry history with them....
View ArticleWriting an Obituary about an Artist and it becomes the Writer’s Own Obituary...
(K.P.Valsaraj)Artist K P Valsaraj is no more. Is it an obituary that I am going to write? Do I know him enough to write about his life or art, let alone his personality? I had met him once, spent a...
View ArticlePerforming Painting for the People: A Thought
Standing at the stairs leading to the foyer I looked at the young people waiting enthusiastically in the lounge for the senior artist to start his demonstration. A live painting session was in...
View ArticleArt Market Comes to Full Circle when Art Fair Takes Place in Five Star Hotel...
In a recently concluded art fair in Delhi, I was told, the works of art were displayed in a five-star hotel. What was exceptional in that, I thought. Even the great Indian master artists used to...
View ArticleDisplaced Targets and Soaring Ambitions of Artists
There is an interesting scene in ‘Modern Times’, the iconic film by Charlie Chaplin. With no other means left to survive, goaded by his girlfriend, the Tramp, character played by Chaplin becomes a...
View ArticleArt Critics as Vendors and Artists as Clients
(source internet)In Mumbai, at the famous Jehangir Art Galleries Tuesdays are busy with exhibition openings. The galleries look like a packed parking lot where car waits bumper to bumper to find a...
View ArticleWhat do you Think When you Think of Writing About Art
(Pic courtesy: Google. Representational Purpose only)I get invitation to attend art exhibition openings. They come through various mediums including personal phone calls. I hardly attend exhibition...
View ArticleForbidden Truths of Nidhivan: Shine Shivan’s New Works
(Work by Shine Shivan)Reverence could be a way to irreverence and vice versa. Deep seated devotion and observation could lead to a sense of critical viewing of the given and also scant respect for...
View ArticleProbing the Definitional Biases: Latheesh Lakshman’s New Works
(Latheesh Lakshman, artist)Great visual communicators are masters of minimalism. For them silence is eloquence. Music makes use of silence but for visual arts silence is constituted by lines and...
View ArticleA Factory without Alienation: Waswo’s Karkhana: A Rajasthan Studio
(Waswo with his Karkhana People)In ‘Karkhana: A Studio in Rajasthan’, the latest book by artist Waswo x Waswo one could see/feel the spirit of a Ruskin Bond narrative. Bond loves his Mussoorie and...
View ArticleCosmic Battles Waged in Aesthetic Orbits: Latest Exhibition of Subodh Gupta
(Subodh Gupta)Down here among the mortals a fierce war is being fought. World has not yet decided which side to take; that of Russia or of Ukraine. But everyone knows they have to ultimately take a...
View ArticlePortia in Venice: Intelligent Interventions by Cecilia Alemani in Venice...
(Cecilia Alemani, Curator, 9th Venice Biennale, pic source:net)Nearly 200 artists from 58 countries. Mostly ‘women and gender non-confirming’ artists as put by the curatorial director, Cecilia...
View Article