New in the Hood

A bright orange archway welcomes you,as do the sculptures of P R Daroz and Paresh Maity. A corner,reserved for coffee and conversations,is made festive by a wall of fame — with gallery artists such as Manu Parekh,Nilima Sheikh,Rameshwar Broota and Jayshree Burman,who have specially made small format work arranged in a grid. The 8,000 square feet gallery consists of two floors dedicated to the display of artworks,while the basement has a viewing room and an upcoming art library.

The gallery opened on August 27 with a show curated by Anirudh Chari,titled “Form & Formlessness”.

Featuring abstract powerhouses such as S H Raza,Prabhakar Kolte,Ganesh Haloi and Sujata Bajaj,it also has refreshing works by Kishore Shinde,Jayashree Chakravarty and Manish Pushkale. In the figurative section,the show has Akbar Padamsee’s photographs of tasteful nudes bathed in light,canvases by action painter Shahabuddin Ahmed and assemblage sculptures by Nantu Bihari. “We wanted to show the transition from formlessness to form. That’s why we just touched upon form through the works of the figurative artists while dwelling more in the realm of abstraction,” says Chari.

Owner Sunaina Anand says they have planned the year ahead. “We have a solo of Manu Pareikh in March 2012 but before that,we will use the space for outreach programmes for students,and host art appreciation for a new audience in order to broaden the buyer-base. Now that we have a bigger space,we will conduct workshops with artists,” she says.

Plans to create a membership programme for the reading room are underway,as is the process of building up a books collection for those interested in art and research.