Overconsumption of digital media has successfully given birth to a newfound appreciation for tangible works of art. In this month’s art shows, heroic self-expression amidst the current socio-political landscapes takes form as sculptures and tapestries to printmaking and recycled artworks. Enroll for a session of visual therapy, as you tune into reimagined metaphorical worlds, designed to urge introspection that closely juxtaposes reality against idealism.
This Is What It’s Like To Be Fabulous By Gurjeet Singh
Specializing in portraiture and soft sculpture, Gurjeet Singh is an artist with fluidity running through each thread he sews. What draws one to Singh’s oeuvre is an extensive sense of deliberation, despite its exuding maximalism rooted in self-expression. He describes his ‘Chorus Of Misfits’ as boundless, free, and alive. The unbeaten burst of vibrance married with intricately patterned discarded fabrics isn’t a mere reflection of the artist’s spirited personality; it exhibits a deeper, probing exploration of identity, love, and trauma. “We’re talking to you now as part of a collective—a chorus of misfits who have finally found a way to fit together; the scraps of our scattered lives and secret identities stitched together into one big resplendent love story”, Gurjeet explains, having explored his queer identity in a conventional Punjabi society. Stemming from a fascination with a Sikh miniature painting tradition, his significant exhibitions include a collaboration with clothing label Bodice by Ruchika Sachdeva, amongst other renowned group shows and exhibits.
Showcase at Chemould Colaba, Mumbai, Nov 10, 2022 onwards
How Many Songs From A Single Note? By Sarah Naqvi
Award-winning artist Sarah Naqvi’s debut solo exhibition at Tarq art gallery opens up a plethora of artworks including video installations, tapestries, drawings, paintings, and sculptures. The use of humor, satire and whimsical props depicts a brave confrontation of identity-based injustice among religious and societal polarisation.
Shuttling between Mumbai and Amsterdam, Naqvi’s flair for telling complex concepts in an affable manner sets them apart from their contemporaries. The young artist focuses on building a secular tomorrow as they question the very nature of resistance for a queer person, whose existence is a continuous act of defiance against the prejudiced normal. Curatorial advisor Shaunak Mahbubani says of Naqvi, “Sarah straddles the interiority of trans-queer existence with the exteriority of a rapidly changing social landscape in the tense comfort of the domestic realm. In this assemblage created over four years, they propose tools, strategies, songs, and gestures to nurture multihued familial kinships as tender acts of survival in a world hurtling towards vapid homogeneity.”
Ongoing showcase until Nov 19, 2022, at Tarq, Mumbai.
Postform By Katayoun Karami
Iranian contemporary artist Katayoun Karami takes us through her life in the Middle East through the lens of the region’s residents. Encapsulating themes around a biased sense of gender expression, shifts in societal norms over the course of history, communal experiences, migration, and more. With a series of artworks created over several years, her focus is on sharing the volatile state of being stuck with fear in the war-torn land of Iran and neighboring countries. “I am this ever-criminal resident of this grand land, convicted of never committed crimes”, Karami expresses in a profound letter to self. While fragments of these atrocities are felt by millions across the globe, true horror is only experienced within the daily lives of its residents. The artist reminisces of a beautiful past from what remains—stamps and handwritten notes, some of which are covered in blood. Karami’s art practice engages with socio-personal projects based on collective community experiences through mixed media. She has been actively producing works since 2002, with four solo exhibitions in Iran and Vienna between 2012 to 2021 and
several group exhibitions at various galleries around the world.
Ongoing showcase until Nov 20, 2022, at Vida Heydari Contemporary, Pune.
Weaving Worlds By Maneesha Doshi
Maneesha Doshi’s ‘Weaving Worlds’ is a freewheeling song of positive and negative spaces. She urges the viewer to step outside the traditional realm of window-framed paintings and view them as an organic entity. The proposition that cutouts eventually become sculptural, freestanding forms, makes room for new narratives of shadow play and abstraction. As its own tray of charm, Doshi’s ‘Inner Tree’ series speaks of imaginary spaces where nature and man emerge as one. Speaking with us, Doshi says, “I recall here Mansur the Mughal painter’s work ‘Squirrels On The Chinar Tree’ where you discover the tree with branches according to the movement of squirrels. Likewise, you see the tree and the building from all around, discovering the tree in its true sense.” Cruising through different forms of media, she describes her work as figures that remain grounded yet surpass their domains in a spiritually surreal landscape. Doshi’s work has spanned across the globe, including the British Museum.
Ongoing showcase until Nov 11, 2022, at 079 Stories, Ahmedabad.
Between Vows And Words By Anupam Sud
“Printmaking can never be totally predictable. It is like a sunrise over a landscape,” Anupam Sud says, whose artistic pursuits date back to the 1900’s. “You know what is about to unfold but never cease to be surprised by the revelation.” With five decades of fine craftsmanship, Sud is a chiaroscuro veteran and ace printmaker, drawing inspiration from the sexual identities of the human form, men and women alike. Sud’s symbolic universe engages in both genders rehearsing their scripted roles and seductive power, often based on dated social notions and issues between the sexes. Curator Roobina Karode discusses Sud’s trajectory, “Anupam’s evolution as an artist, from the ‘plate’ to the ‘palette’ has been a story both exemplary and singular. She demonstrated the will and fortitude of a young woman silently and slowly subverting the archaic notions of male supremacy and puritan idioms of modernism.” The etching ‘Dining With Ego’ captures subtle cinematic mischief, one that invites the viewer to curate their own interpretations based on the numerous visual details and puns designed by the artist.
Ongoing showcase until Dec 15, 2022, at The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), New Delhi.
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