Back to the future

Art is now seen as an important creative form,quot; says Harsh Goenka. Which is why the brains behind the RPG group's week-long art exhi...

Art is now seen as an important creative form,quot; says Harsh Goenka. Which is why the brains behind the RPG group8217;s week-long art exhibition, Flashback, Flash Forward8216; spent several months putting together quot;a unique show that would look at the millenniumquot;.

And by all pointers indicate that it will more than live up to that promise. Divided into two stand-alone sections, the first called Turning Point8216; looks at the art of the past six decades 8212; post and pre-independence. To capture quot;the transitions and the artistic shifts, within their distinctive oeuvres, without attempting to review tendencies in Indian art from an entirely critical or historical perspectivequot;. Therefore 11 leading artists will exhibit four of their works spanning their careers. The visual bibliograph will include the works of M F Husain, S H Raza, Tyeb Mehta, Jehangir Sabavala and Ganesh Pyne.

The other section, New Millennium 8212; New Media will feature the works of 10 younger artists who are quot;seeking to locatethemselves in the seamless global art scenarioquot;. Artists who have experimented with new media, new techniques and explored with the possibilities of computer-aided imagery, assemblage and installation. For instance, Karl Antao8217;s piece uses an auto-rickshaw and Jaideep Mehrotra8217;s installation is an example of video art. Other artists who have let their imaginations run riot include Sudarshan Shetty, Prithpal Ladi and Sunil Padwal.

quot;The idea was to have a stark contrast and do something new. On one side there is the very serious art from the best artists in the country. On the other side, the younger artists have been able to go wild,quot; says Goenka. Adds Mehrotra, quot;It is a great concept and platform for artists. It is allowing artists to experiment and do art that would not earn them money.quot; Mehrotra, in fact, spent an entire whole month working on his display.

Flashback, Flash Forward8216;, however, is a complete shift from Goenka8217;s last exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery, held over a year ago. Atthat time he had asked artists to look at 50 years of Indian Independence as the theme. quot;This time, I wanted the show to be avant garde. And I wanted lots of new medium used,quot; says Goenka.

And the twain meet. At the exhibition 8212; which starts tomorrow.

At the Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda. Till Apr 13.