Art We Heart - Art Events and Exhibitions in India
Weekly Round-Up of Art Events, News and Art Exhibitions in India
The harbinger of art, Artsome, presents a weekly curation of the shows dotting the mellifluous Indian art landscape.
Written by Monica Arora
Art Exhibitions in Delhi this week
I. Rehang
Uthra Rajgopal
21 October—31 October 2021
Anant Art
Bikaner House, New Delhi
Encapsulating this ability of textiles that hold magical stories between their warp and weft, curator Uthra Rajgopal has put together ‘Rehang’, an exhibition of South Asian contemporary textile art. From the delicacy of gossamer soft muslin to the sheen and smoothness of silk; from the handspun earthiness of khadi to the opulent weave of the banarsi, fabrics in Asia have always been used as an expression of culture, tradition, history and values of a society as a microcosm. Similarly, this exhibition narrates the individual tales of the artists, chosen to craft a journey of past experiences, nostalgia, personal anecdotes and memories that find a resonance through these artistic textiles.
You can also read our blog about the preview show here.
II. Phantasmagoria
Dileep Sharma
Farhad Husain
George Martin
Pratul Dash
27 October—15 November 2021
Latitude 28
New Delhi
The exhibition Phantasmagoria features works by Dileep Sharma, Farhad Husain, George Martin and Pratul Dash. Each of these artists presents their notion of contemporary pop culture that is coloured by an overload of tools techniques and alternative simulations, thereby clouding the original to form something completely unfamiliar and even unsettling at times. And therein lies the element of infinitesimal possibility where memory and reality are merged to create a fantastical body of work that both teases and tantalises.
Art Exhibitions in Goa this week
I. Goa: A Time That Was
Ipshita Maitra, Waswo X. Waswo & Dr. Vishvesh Prabhakar Kandolkar
9 September August—20 November 2021
Sunaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts
Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts presents Goa: A Time That Was, an exhibition of photography by Ipshita Maitra, Waswo X. Waswo & Dr. Vishvesh Prabhakar Kandolkar. Essentially, the show compels the viewer to examine his or her relationship with place as three distinctive periods from Goa’s evocative history are captured in the works on display. How a place clings on to memories of its past and accordingly, designs a path for the future is explored in depth by the three artists.
Artist and film-maker Ipshita Maitra divulges “the ethnographic, ancestral, geographic changes in the landscape”, whilst photographer and writer Waswo X. Waswo juxtaposes his quintessential style of combining the vintage studio portrait with hand painting. Architect & historian Dr Vishvesh Prabhakar Kandolkar reveals his research into the afterlife of the Basilica of Bom Jesus, symbolic of Goa’s trademark Indo-Portuguese architecture.
Art Exhibitions in Mumbai this week
I. The Heart of the Heart
Pallavi Paul
9 September—30 October 2021
Project88Mumbai
The Heart of the Heart by artist Pallavi Paul explores the fine line that lies between jealousy and envy. Whilst jealousy is always rooting in amassing more, envy on the other hand is deeper and drives the desire to acquire what is not there. This in turn compels the mind to examine the world from the lens of the seeker. Featuring a suspended shroud that draws inferences from the 'Shroud of Turin', this symbol of the pandemic is an ode to all that was lost during the pandemic and how it has changed life as we knew it, forever. The show also includes the film entitled Blind Rabbit (2020) is a film that addresses the absolute power and state violence evident through instances of the Sikh pogrom in 1982 or the imposition of the emergency in 1975-77 or the recent attacks on Muslims in northeastern Delhi in 2020. Besides, Out of Date, is a series of 13 photographs that articulate the new psychological language that has evolved post-pandemic and how uncertainty and insecurity have affected the sanctity of intimate relationships.