Collective Arts

The arts,whether music,dance or painting,are no longer mutually exclusive and Singhania is not alone in thinking that bringing them all together on a single evening is perfectly natural. Especially at a time in which luring people to art galleries has become far tougher considering the slowdown in the art market and competing priorities during the festive season that carries on from now till New Year. If you can throw in a performance that might act as a motivator and draw in the crowds,it seems worth the effort. So if Nidhi Jain of Ragini Arts had a recitation by poets during the opening of Rohit Sharma’s exhibition at restaurant Choko La on Friday,Aarti Singh of Polka Art brought together creations of fashion designer Poonam Bhagat and an art installation of Baroda-based artist Vishal Joshi,both inspired by Spanish Catalan artist Joan Miro,at The Love Hotel at Ai this month. “Different forms of art can share a common heritage,” says artist and curator Alka Raghuvanshi. As she works on her upcoming exhibition in December,Jain is translating her designs on sarees that will be draped by renowned personalities like Sushma Seth,Jaya Jaitley and Shovana Narayan during the opening of the show. “Adding more elements excites the viewers,” says Jain,who had a live performance by guitarist Valentine Shipley during the opening of photography show in September.

Meanwhile,Mukesh Panika,Head,Religare arts initiative designed the arts.i gallery in a way that would allow room for performances. “We wanted to act as a hub for all art,” says Panika,who had members of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust perform a street play titled Who Bol Uthi in the gallery during the show ‘Home Sweet Home’ that focused on domestic violence. “The two complemented each other,” observes Panika,who will have a series of events,from poetry reading to puppetry and dance,at the gallery next year as part of a one year long AIDS awareness project that will be launched in December.

“It is important to find a common thread between the art and the performing art,” says Raghuvanshi,who had a violinist perform during a group show curated by her at Alliance Française. Next year she will bring together work of Dubai-based artist Manisha Gawde and fashion designers Gunjan Arora and Rahul Jain. “During a two-three hour long opening,having a 15-20 minute performance renews the interest of the guests,” adds Tripat Kalra,director,Gallerie Nvya,who had a contemporary dance performance by Shilpika during the inaugural exhibition of her gallery at Square One Mall. The exhibition had canvas of Thota Vaikuntam featuring the Telangana women and M F Husain’s work from the musician series. The logistics of organising these multi faceted evenings can be expensive,with no tangible returns. What keeps them going? “Well,people are interested in different kinds of art,” she adds. Interestingly,Grade A artists like Subodh Gupta and Atul Dodiya might like the focus to be strictly on their works during openings,but for others,the collective arts theory could just work.