New dimensions to the past

While some artists reacted to individual objects or cultures, some — specially the younger ones — questioned the notion of a museum and the integrity of The Enduring Image exhibition itself. Says Mukhopadhyay, "The magnificent collection of the British Museum was possible only because of Britain’s colonies. And that some of our own artefacts have come back as gifts after 50 years is ironic." His installation — a comment on the method of building collections by museums — is a plane made of discarded plastic drums. The loosely-connected barrels expose the belly of the machine which holds trivia such as torches, shoes and other gadgets — representing objects that were used tobuild these collections. This urban debris symbolises the technological advances that were jockeyed to appropriate heirlooms of another people. Says Mukhopadhyay succinctly, "The exhibition was a wonderful experience…but the most fascinating was the acquisition number that each artefact had."

While his sentiments and installation are both underlined with iron, Pushpamala’s riposte is pastiche in plastic. Wandering through Bhendi Bazaar, she chanced upon moulded busts of Marilyn Monroe being used for hawking lingerie on the roads. She bought some and hung them on hangars in the gallery. This transportation of mass manufactured objects to the realms of an art gallery is not just a hot-blooded, cheeky reaction to the grave, heavily-guarded auras of ancient artefacts. Says the artist, "Something so banal as a shard of pottery is a museum treasure now because it is hundreds of years old. Maybe these busts, icons of our age, will be treasured too thousand years later."

While Pushpamala questions thedeification of objects just because they are old, Rimzon’s installation is a comment on transportation of art objects from one culture to another and the ease with which these cultural displacements are negotiated and accepted. The replicas of Syrian reliefs in open-mouthed suitcases put across the question whether a work of art loses its spirit if placed outside its cultural context.

Shetty’s work too challenges the notion of a museum. "I am not a great one for museums or antiquity," he says. His installation comprises eight identical idols of Ganeshas daubed in bright colours. The idols, made in the style of popular tradition, are placed in various positions on platforms giving a sense of circular movement to the exhibit. "Ganesha is in a way a symbol of the ephemeral. Thousands of idols are made each year only to be sunk in the sea. It is pitting the transience of things against the idea of museumisation," he says.

While Shetty found the thought of looking at a historical exhibition pressurising,Reddy, who made two sculptures, says that the past is a source of strength for him. His blue-seated woman, earthy and uncontrived in her posture, is a response to Mexican terra cotta figures. And the golden bust of a woman, bedecked in compliance to her value-based society, is in response to a Roman bust. The strong unashamed humanity of one juxtaposed with the artificiality of the other creates a tension in that space.

Like Altaf’s 300 terracotta figurines in response to Mexican clay figures from Colima, Reddy’s work shows a more serious and a respectful approach to heritage. The works of the younger artists on the other hand are deeply playful but also very serious in the questions and challenges they put forth. "It is a sort of knocking art out from its hallowed status," says Mehta. This show, though some works don’t match the quality that the artists have achieved before, is unique for the exchange of ideas and idioms that it bought about. Says Mehta, "We would have liked to have it on much largerscale but it was very difficult to get sponsors." And though its size might be quite small, this exhibition definitely totals upto much more than the sum of its parts.

At the Jehangir Nicholson Art Gallery, NCPA till May 03, 1998. Time: 11.00 am to 7.00 pm.