City Travels

After stopping at Korea,Japan,Vienna and China in the last decade,the Baroda-based artist is now preparing to show in Delhi. One of his biggest solos will be hosted next week at the Lalit Kala Akademi and Vadehra Art Gallery,Defence Colony. On display will be Sheikh’s seminal piece,Kaavad: Traveling Shrine: Home and another large painting-based installation,titled The City: Memory,Dreams,Desire,Status and Ghosts — The Return of Hiuen Tsang. While these two assemblages have been shown in the Far East,Sheikh’s 29 new works will also be part of the show.

“My health is fine now,I try to work 14 hours a day,” said Sheikh,on the phone from Baroda. That’s a tall order for a person who has just recovered from a heart attack. “In the last two weeks,things have been really hectic for me and my team,” he added. This exhibition was to take place in August,but was postponed to October due to Sheikh’s ill-health.

The new collection is an indicator of the renewed vigour that Sheikh has bounced back with. The show will include five papier-mâché reliefs,a collection of six new shrines and a series of watercolours,that he began in 2003. The traditional works are offset with two circular reliefs,that slowly rotate,as they run on a motor. An impressive 18-foot three-channel video work,done in flash animation,is titled Beyond Borders. “I sourced hundreds of images when I made my first animation in 2004. I have increased the scope of the video work,which has a map of the world with images of Lord Ram and Laila-Majnu,fading in and out,” said Sheikh. He has also composed music for the artwork by taking snatches from contemporary global music.

The travelling shrines,meanwhile,come from a Rajasthani tradition,where wooden structures with doors opening on all four sides are taken around villages,as tales from the Ramayana and Mahabharata are narrated. “I did not want to make these shrines religious,so the themes are secular. While one talks about wanderlust and forced migration,the other deals with the demolition of Babri Masjid and the third has Kabir’s poems juxtaposed with violent images,” said Sheikh.

The centerpiece,however,is the 24-foot wide six-panel,The City- The Return of Hiuen Tsang. The painting ends in a semicircle,where the structure of the city,at the bottom,looks like an archeological site with small sculptural heads and papier-mâché reliefs emulating a city plan.

Sheikh’s digital and hand-painted accordion books will also be available at Vadehra Art Gallery. Is a retrospective in the pipeline? “I should not plan my own retrospective,” chuckled Sheikh,pointing out that there was a proposal to hold one in Australia,but the economic meltdown has put that in the freezer.

The exhibition will be held at Lalit Kala Akademi and Vadehra Art Gallery in Defence Colony,from October 12 to 24 and October 12 to November 15,respectively. Contact: 24622545