A round shape, which represents the entire scanned universe, is dotted with yellow blocks to mark all that is still unknown. Titled Macrocosm, the work by Pune-based Durgesh Kumar is an eye-opening reminder of how much remains hidden from human knowledge. “We have not achieved the technical sophistication to scan large parts of the universe. Every small section of yellow contains hundreds of billions of galaxies. Despite knowing so much, we still don’t know half of it all. I was also taken aback while working on this piece,” says Kumar. A painter, sculptor and photographer, who works with scientific organisations and uses electron microscopes and giant radio telescopes as much as cameras and brushes, Kumar is part of a group show of seven artists at VHC art gallery in Koregaon Park till August 9. According to the gallery, the idea of the exhibition ‘Unveiled Horizons’ is to “point toward processes underlying construction in and around cities and how they are reflected in the formation of the self – at the level of the mind, the spirit and the body – through humour, despair, scepticism, hope and desire”. One could argue that this broad theme could take in every kind of art, especially as the individual artwork stands out by itself in specific ways. Gauri Gandhi’s sculpture Distorted, for instance, is a bust that provides a shocking portrayal of shattered people or it could be interpreted as people who have given up their humane instincts and become the face of evil. Is the head with the broken surface of a perpetrator, a victim or somebody else – the question keeps one riveted to the artwork. Next to it is another head but this one has a miniature of Rodin’s The Thinker perched on the skull. This is an apt reflection on the social predilection for overthinking, constant contemplations and other unceasing chattering that goes on in the head. Aparajita Jain Mahajan’s series that uses pen, ink, watercolour, inherited thread, fabric and handmade paper is rooted in journeys and memories, among others, while Harman Taneja takes a break from the rules of his profession as an architect to explore amorphous shapes. Harpreet Singh uses collages and installations to “create a space where fantasy meets the mundane, where sentiments meet commercial logic”. Priti Vadakkath, who lives in Munnar, presents The Shola Grasslands, a series that draws one into the landscape of Udumbanchola, Munnar, where manmade and windswept fires pose a threat to a fragile ecosystem. Richi Bhatia uses the rose to create a narrative about her process, which “calls upon ethics of care and nurture, and enquires how and where do we situate personal narratives in a global society, where the idea of contemporaneity is constantly shifting”.
