2002
Cross Currents
Indian meets Danish Artists
Cross Currents was conceived when the two of us were discussing about similarities in the styles of Indian and Danish Painters at a restaurant in Copenhagen. Our discussion led to the idea of introducing Danish artists to India and Indian artists to Denmark and other neighboring countries through Crossucrrents, a series of shows to be held in Bombay. Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pondichery and Bangalore in India and Denmark, Germany and Sweden in Europe in a span of twelve months. Both of us have worked on this project for almost sixteen months in order to make this event possible. We jointly selected eminent Danish artists along with young and promising Indian artists to blend experience with youth.
Curated by Fawad Tamakanat and Mona Lauridsen
(Friday, December 20 to Wednesday, January 15)
Rooted Landscapes
Solo show by Rini Dhumal
The pictorial world of Rini Dhumal is an amalgam of myth and realism, where nostalgia and sombre tones meet to create powerful protagonists that exude raw primal energy. We see representations of memory and recollection, distilled by her imagination which emerges from deep convictions and courage.
Incarnations of the quintessential Indian Woman--quiet, with aloof confidence and devoid of any fragility-dominate the earthy landscapes. Stories of displacement, chance encounters and tales of far-away lands, integrating with symbolism and perception, are all part of her oeuvre. One comes upon, at once, the universality and intimate familiarity in the fluid forms.
Trained as a painter, Rini Dhumal has experimented with every conceivable medium ranging from print-making, graphics, ceramics, with fantastic results, and created a cultural vocabulary uniquely her own. Her sketchbooks, with jottings of her initial responses before they take shape as paintings or other artworks, reveal the coming together of her hand and spirit. Drawing upon a storehouse of historical details, the splendours of her childhood and anecdotal references from various travels, she creates a vivid aesthetic in her art-making.
On display are 256 colour illustrations
The Eternal Enchantress of Devdas
Solo show by MF Husain
(Thursday, July 11 to Saturday, July 20)
S H Raza
(Tuesday, February 19 to Tuesday, February 26)
Nava Nayika
Curated by Sumitra Srinivasan and Kalpana Shah
Nava Nayika - nine contemporary Indian female artists - creates a parallel picture to the heraldic figures of ancient myth and legend. The artists break out of traditional, structural limitations to seize total empowerment. They gift themselves the freedom of a multi-layered being. The wholeness that imprints their creative vision is a mark of their true essence. Nalini Malani, Nilima Sheikh, Anjolie Ela Menon, Rekha Rodwittiya, Arpana Caur, Gogi Saroj Pal, Madhavi Parekh, Anupam Sud and Rini Dhumal are presented in this show as Nava Nayika. The nine leading contemporary Indian female artists are no longer boxed in by clichéd labels. They have evolved highly potent, individualized oeuvres. Keeping a firm grasp on the larger matrix of aesthetic expression, both regional and global, these artists perceive and express the feminine as a powerful energy. At the core of their self. expression, are feminine concerns and issues within the broader context of the human condition.
These nine artists came together as Nava Nayika, particularly because they have worked to subvert the historic stereotyping of the female. They are aware of the polarities that rule the empowered and the disempowered in all cultural situations, whether related to gender, poverty, exploitation or servility of conditioning among the subaltern classes.
In a way, these nine Nayikas carry the torch for the feminine. They create metaphors and symbols to identify and express its unique sensibilities, aspirations and experiences. They emphatically release it from the myth of subordination and inadequacy, subverting the patriarchal establishment. In their compositions, these female artists work to subvert 'erotica' and the controlling male gaze that sees the feminine/female as an object of sexual possession. The female is usually seen as existing simply for the amusement of the grasping, self-indulgent, feudal male presence. This is an attitudinal legacy which will not die an easy death. It gives a subaltern position to the feminine, deliberately seeing it in parts and rejecting its intrinsic unity of self and being. This gender-biased, disrespectful attention, and the accompanying disempowerment, is negated by the Nava Nayikas.
(Tuesday, January 24 to Saturday, February 16)