INDEPENDENTLY DELHI PART I
Visiting the four independent exhibitions that went physical in the post COVID scenario has been rewarding.
As one walks out of the sun and into the cool of Gallery Espace, one is greeted by dramatically severed trunks of trees, lying upon the floor, propped up against the wall, and in one instance weighed down by bricks. This is not new as many artists have brought the branches and trunks of trees into a white cube gallery space to speak of deforestation and our depleting green cover. However, it is only upon touching these hyperreal trees that one realizes they are made of bronze. Their cool, metallic structure gives this artistic intervention a completely different feeling and meaning—for they change from ‘vulnerable spectators’ to ‘immovable works of art’. Artist G R Iranna employs bronze sculptures and stunning paintings that are ash covered and layered with acrylic paint to speak of his sustained artistic engagement with the tree in recent years. There is also a body of smaller paintings, titled Poems in the dust, rendered in Acrylic, ash on paper that speak of iridescent trees, laden with blossoms and burgeoning with hope.
“The tree is a giver. It is a witness, it is a symbol of calm dedication and tolerance,” says Iranna who joins us in the gallery walk around of his solo Boodi (Ash) which will be on till April 15, 2021. The title is a Kannada word that brings together his suite of recent works, created over the last three years. Trees, according to Iranna, ‘becomes a person’ who bears the vicissitudes of time and fate, and they can stand as representative of the victims who by their outward passivity and absorption of pain, pose a spiritual bulwark to oppression, violence, and environmental degradation.The works in Boodi also highlight Iranna’s continuing conceptual engagement with ash as a medium for art, evoking ideas of philosophy, spiritualism, and social practice. “The Kannada poets, Basavanna, Kallu Devaru and Allama Prabhu are the inspiration behind these body of works,” says Iranna who grew up in an agrarian family in rural Karnataka, attuned to nature’s cycles.
“According to these poets, God is within our bodies, and all return to the ash from which we were created. The cycle of life and death is endless,” says Iranna whose philosophical approach has always characterized his works.
The show is viewable online as well, but we insist that you catch this one in the physical if possible since it has many layers that get peeled off only with a direct interaction with the work.
For an exhibition titled a casual This and That, the show at Studio Art packs quite a punch. The new gallery in Okhla showcases a variety of expressions that ponder upon the issues concerning artists during the pandemic and even after the lockdown was lifted. Featuring new artworks by Baiju Parthan, Khalil Chishtee, Megha Joshi, Pooja Iranna, Ranbir Kaleka, Remen Chopra W. Van Der Vaart, Shivani Aggarwal, Sharmi Chowdhury, TV Santhosh and Veer Munshi, the show includes painting, video, sculpture and photography and will be on till May 15, 2021.
“The pre-covid world was a world of immense exposure and collaboration, yet the emphasis on success, competition and the desire to be visible may have depleted the self emotionally. This was ‘That’ time. Then there was social media that percolated lives and didn’t make it easier. One was visible but not present in the moment. Constant comparisons and possibly an assessment of one’s worth in the eyes of the world may have impacted inner peace and personal spaces.” says Singh, Director, Studio Art.
Khalil Chishtee uses trash bags in sculptural works titled ‘Unbearable Lightness of Being & Bedtime Ritual’ to speak about the transience of life. “Our smartphones are so efficient that information is just a click away. And yet most of the truths are hidden. For instance, we failed to see obvious signs of an impending pandemic.”
Shivani Aggarwal’s sculptural work titled ‘Hangers’ is an extension of the series of dysfunctional objects she has been creating for a long time now. The work questions how our state of being is compromised by situations and circumstances. The bent out of shape hangers also indicates a sense of hidden baggage as well that often gets overlooked or suppressed.
Ranbir Kaleka’s video installation with digital collage on canvas titled ‘Turbulence, Veiled, Un-veiled’ is about the relentless cycle of losing and reclaiming calm in our complex lives. The captivating video work pictures a man standing in his domestic settings before a seascape and a ship arrives bringing with war and soldiers, shattering the calm in some irreversible ways.
Text by Georgina Maddox
Image Courtesy: Artists and Galleries featured
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