New Delhi,
Art Positive hosts its annual art show - titled Devotion-Transformation - a group exhibition by eminent artists who explore the theme of devotion in a contemporary context, offering the viewers an aesthetic panorama of expressions that resonate around concepts ranging from bhakti, loyalty to dedication and commitment. Curated by Sushma Bahl, the exhibition will present varied oeuvres, forms and media in a range of contemporary artworks that bring together faith, fact and fantasy, at Art Positive, from August 12, 2010 to September 30, 2010 at F-213/B, Lado Sarai, Old MB Road, New Delhi-110030.
The participating artists are Anwar, Arpana Caur, Asit Kumar Patnaik, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Dharmendra Rathore, Dimpy Menon, Gagan Vij, Jayasri Burman, Kamar Alam, Kristine Michael, Rajendra Mishra, Puja Bahri, Sanatan Dinda, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Satish Gupta, Seema Ghurayya, Seema Kohli, Sheela Chamaria, Shipra Bhattacharjee, Shobha Broota, Shuvaprasanna, Siddharth, Sudip Roy, Surya Prakash, Thota Vaikuntam and Venkat Bothsa.
Says Anu Bajaj, Director, Art Positive: Devotion does not mean being confined to a religion. It is an attitude, a way of life, a commitment to a belief, a person, a cause, and, for the artist, art itself. This exhibition will break the barriers to reach beyond Godly devotion and offer the viewers with an aesthetic panorama of expressions ranging from Bhakti, Loyalty, Dedication andCommitment.
This is the fifth annual show being hosted by Art Positive and will be held at the gallerys newly opened premises at Lado Sarai that was flagged off on May 11 this year. Considering the fact that a number of veteran artists are participating in this exhibition, this show will surely provide art aficionados with a new perspective to Devotion- one that might relate to human love and care for the environment, or affection and faith, or something stretched to the limits of fidelity and even a lack of trust!
Sushma Bahl, curator of the show, says This exhibition is inundated with metaphorical symbols,overflowing with devotion in its varied manifestations. Religious and spiritual leaders, ordinary mortals, objects and natural elements, ideas and aspirations, figure in the spread here of different oeuvres, forms and media - each focusing on devotion from a different perspective and in a contemporary context. The resonance of adulation, faith and commitment appears not just in terms of religious or Godly devotion but also human love, care for the environment, concern for self and society, to exude a complete dedication in some cases and infidelity in the others.
Artists like Arpana Caur, Satish Gupta, Shuvaprasanna, Sanatan Dinda, Sudip Roy and Dharmendra Rathore amongst others have displayed meditative portraits of spiritual gurus and Godly figures of Buddha, Yug Purusha, Krishna, Guru Nanak and others in delicate renderings. Their works evoke a sense of complete surrender to the idol of their devotion, whereby the artists dig deep into their inner selves and thus seek solace from the ephemeral life and the world around. Siddharths works also provoke a similar sense of philosophical and mystical sophistication. Sanjay Bhattacharyas work, From Power to Love- a Transformation plays with the fine line distinguishing sacred and profane, ritual and performance as he depicts his devotion for Goddess Kali and Lord Krishna at the same time.
Artists like Shobha Broota, Seema Ghurayya and Anwar display their meditative streak in different forms and intensity through abstract imagery on the canvases. As curator Sushma Bahl puts it, While Seemas search and dedication for the lyrical is expressed through the ethereal intonations that immerse her delicate and almost Zen canvas, Shobhas pristine imagery creates another worldly allusion for the eye of the beholder simultaneously expressing the vulnerability of its creator. The subtle palette and elusive form of Anwar appears with its attendant paradox. There are other artists like Jayasri Burman, Seema Kohli, Puja Bahri and Shipra Bhattacharjee who consider devotion as a ritual that evokes a mixed feeling of conflict and confluence, depicted in their visually rich and dense artworks.
Devotion takes a completely different meaning in the paintings and sculptures by Asit Patnaik, Rajendra Mishra and Sheela Chamaria, who portray how search for human and physical love transforms devotion to adulation and obsession. Sheela Chamariyas Vatsalya, a sculpture of a mother and her child, and Rajendra Mishras Lovers, sculpture of a courting couple, display the predominant aesthetics of these artists- Love and Faith. On the other hand, the canvases of artists like Chandra Bhattacharjee and Kamar Alam are underlined with trepidation and anger suggesting a move from certainty to doubt and a sense of loss or separation.
Adding a sharp contrast to the other artists, artists like Venkat Bothsa and Thota Vaikuntam have portrayed some folk cum tribal affinity in their works. Venkat Bothsaa installations and colourful paintings of Telangana women by Vaikuntam play with the folk element, while Kristine Michael narrates the changing moods and moves of Nature through her delicate ceramic and digital works.Nature appears in a different mode and frame in Surya Prakashs colourful landscape. Thechanging life patterns and the world around are seen to get differently moulded in metal sculptures by Dimpy Menon and Gagan Vij.
As a whole, these artworks will present a panoramic view of a multiplicity of voices and views on devotion transforming constantly in rhythm with the changing pattern of life and the world around.
