Two solo exhibitions trace abstract art in the contemporary context

What are the abstract art practices in the world of contemporary Indian art? Two new solo art exhibition at Gallery Espace set the stage for a broader deliberation by bringing together a selection of canvases created by Shobha Broota over the last two decades, and recent multimedia flatworks and sculptures that speak of Mekhala Bahl’s intense engagement with materials and processes; Untitled Waves by Shobha Broota (Source: PR Handout)

Titled Sutra: Shobha Broota’s Explorations of Thread and Colour, and Shape of a Surface – A Solo Exhibition of Recent Work by Mekhala Bahl, the shows open on September 4 2021, and will be on display at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Bikaner House, New Delhi over two floors until September 14, 2021; Beyond This by Mekhala Bahl (Source: PR Handout)

By juxtaposing the artworks of the two women artists with highly diverse abstract art practices, the show offers a critical view of the historical narrative of abstractionist art practice in the Indian context that has largely been framed by two postulates – the impact of Western artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and the New York Abstract Expressionists, and the engagement with indigenous philosophies and texts, and propositions and ideas of mysticism, meditation and transcendence; Untitled by Shobha Broota (Source: PR Handout)

“Reputed for innovative programming with a succession of large-scale exhibitions dedicated to a single medium or material, the gallery turns the focus on abstract art with its forthcoming exhibitions at Bikaner House dedicated to the artistic practices of one of India’s leading abstract painters, Shobha Broota, and contemporary artist, Mekhala Bahl,” notes Renu Modi, founder and director at Gallery Espace; Lie Down by Mekhala Bahl (Source: PR Handout)

Acclaimed art critic Ranjit Hoskote writes in his essay, “Depth echoes against depth as the edge between forms is dissolved, and the space of the painting becomes an image of the cosmos. Having traced an itinerary through figurative painting, portraiture from the life, images of birds, as well as a range of media including print-making, dry pastels and oils, Broota works solely with a technique that involves flicking paint from a brush onto the surface of the painting with the fingers; neither brushwork nor spraying come into play." ; Untitled Red by Shobha Broota(Source: PR Handout)

Showcasing over 50 paintings and a large body of over 40 drawings in the artist’s first solo in Delhi after a gap of eight years, Sutra will open with Broota’s canvases created over the last two decades using everyday materials such as wool, thread, plastic and other materials. These works, an evolution of her earlier minimalist paintings, signal Broota’s arrival at a magisterial idiom of abstraction, one in which line is embodied in thread, in all its palpable materiality while colour is translated into a resonant field, the source and goal of all vibrations; Rage by Mekhala Bahl (Source: PR Handout)

Broota has worked in several genres – from portraits, to woodcuts and etchings in the ’70s and ’80s, to oil and acrylic paintings, and ‘relief’ works where fabric, thread, silk, or wool – sometimes hand-knitted - is stretched across the canvas to create intricate patterns; Untitled (white circle on blue) by Shobha Broota (Source: PR Handout)

Shape of a Surface, Mekhala Bahl’s fifth solo show in Delhi, includes multimedia works made between 2016 to 2021 and highlights the artist’s intense engagement with the physical and material processes of printmaking that are at the core of this body of work. Her highly experimental approach – using multiple mediums and bringing together printmaking, painting and drawing – has been the foundation of her practice for more than two decades; Grown By Mekhala Bahl (Source: PR Handout)

Art historian and curatorial advisor of the show, Latika Gupta notes, “Shape of a Surface' includes three-dimensional objects and these mark a distinctive evolution of Mekhala's oeuvre as an artist. The exhibition also includes works that experiment with using photography as a starting point, the surface of which is then layered into a complex abstraction that is as rewarding as it is challenging."; Trace by Mekhala Bahl (Source: PR Handout)