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Journalism of Courage
Architectural blueprints have attained numerous hues on the easels of artists, from SH Raza to Sudarshan Shetty, from FN Souza to Anish Kapoor. An exhibition, “Constructs/ Constructions” at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) in Delhi brings together their works in a dialogue that discusses varied concerns, from the sheer act of building to the ideas and emotions that define spaces.
In Black & White
Anish Kapoor, Zarina Hashmi, Noemie Goudal, Seher Shah, Yamini Nayar
Master Takes
SH Raza, Ram Kumar, FN Souza, Ganesh Haloi
Decades before he discovered the bindu and a year after SH Raza moved to France, he painted this oil on paper board. Titled Carcassonne, it captures his impressions of the French citadel and experimentation with elements of construction. It is one of his several works in the exhibition, which also comprises his recent works that appeared in auctions, La Terre (1973) and Bhoomi (1988). Like him, Ram Kumar, too, captures the constant transformation of cityscapes, while Ganesh Haloi’s untitled tempera represents the abstractionist. FN Souza’s famous work The Red Road, on the other hand, is a splendid rendering of his home town Goa.
Surround Sound
Sudarshan Shetty, Srinivasa Prasad, Nandita Kumar
One of the rooms at the exhibition space echoes with the plaintive wail of the sarangi, punctuated with the shattering of a china cup. A single channel video takes the viewer from the inside of a dilapidated home to the exterior of the colonial building. Sudarshan Shetty’s Waiting For Others to Arrive breathes life into a once grand building in Mumbai. “It is an analogy to loss. The film is a space for regeneration and my inner urge to preserve it,” says the Mumbai-based artist. Sharing his sentiments is Srinivasa Prasad’s Bamboo House, a nest-like cocoon with calming music. The hum is broken with nature-based sounds — whales mating to the wind swirling and birds chirping — from inside Nandita Kumar’s glass bottle, where nature meets technology.
Larger than Life
LN Tallur, Gigi Scaria, Hema Upadhyay
The miniature hatha yogi figures on inverted roofs, made of terracotta, speak of conquest — of death, hunger and ageing. LN Tallur’s Veni Vidi Vici delves not just into colonial history but also the ethereal desire to rule. Gigi Scaria’s Elevator also projects disparities of caste and class. The viewer enters an elevator with three side wall-length screens projecting urban homes. It gives the viewer a real-time experience the claustrophobia of urban spaces. The theme is taken forward by Hema Upadhyay’s 8×12. Denoting the size of a house in Mumbai’s Dharavi, it is made of waste material and presents an aerial view of the slum.
The exhibition is on at KNMA, Delhi, till Dec 20.
