Brushed together

Jehangir Art Gallery,Mumbai,is playing host to an artists’ reunion; one which befits the milieu of the art world. This reunion,which was planned four years ago by seven young visual artists,materialises as a group show of paintings,titled ‘Self and the City’. The artists,who hail from small towns,graduated from MMK College of Visual Art,Gulbarga,Karnataka,in 2004. And,while some settled in Gulbarga,others relocated to metros like Mumbai,Bengaluru and Hyderabad,to pursue their artistic endeavours. But what remained was the desire to exhibit together their experiences post separation. “After graduating,we never exhibited our work together. We are sojourners in the art world,but career pressures made us part our ways,” says artist,Pavan Kumar.

Kumar shares that when the seven friends moved to bigger cities,they faced adjustment problems and felt alienated in the fast-paced life. This,he believes,was the common thread that wove them and their work together. “The show was planned before,but we decided the theme after reviewing everyone’s work. Our conflicts of city life prevail in our work. The struggle has permeated into our thinking. This exhibition brings together everyone’s signature style to express that struggle,” says Girish B Kulkarni.

While,Kulkarni’s paintings portray the tussle of a solitary man in an absurd world of wild animals and mythical figures,Kumar reflects the fading calm and overpowering chaos of metros in his paintings. Through a generous splash of colour and forms,he comments on the degradation of public amenities,environment and social life. Artist Amit K Patil employs patterns of day-to-day life objects like crackers and honey bottles to comment on the economic and social disparity of small towns and big cities. His work not only accompanies a three dimensional feel,but also travels beyond the canvas.

Sunil M Lohar differs in his representation. In one of his paintings,titled Metaphor,the artist paints the canvas as display rack,where he places random objects like cars,dolls,baskets etc. “These objects hold some metaphoric meaning,which is different for everyone,” says Lohar. The exhibition also includes works of Manjunath H Lakshman,Narasimha M Kumar and Santosh V Advani,who,like their batchmates,have translated their city struggle on a canvas in myriad expressions.

(The exhibition is on till August 10 at Jehangir Art Gallery)