Memorabilia, Swiss Residencies - Call for applications and more..

NEWS

Memorabilia

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore, presents a show of art works by eminent artists from the country and all over the world. The show titled, ‘Memorabilia’ is an exploration of memory, as mediated and presented by the photograph - whether the image is a direct product of the photographic process; used as a referential point by the artist; or acting as a filter through which ideas are researched. 
Each image stows away a particular moment and allows it to be re-consumed as many times as it is perceived (and by as many persons that can view it)– sustaining a fragile link between different temporal zones. Personal recollections, collective histories, and public archives become part of this broad study that also attempts to look into the transitional period between the age of black and white, and that of digital colour.

The participating artists are Anoli Perera, Clare Arni, Anusha Yadav/ Indian Memory Project, Mohan Kumar T, Moutushi Chaktraborty, Priti Vadakkath, Ravi Kumar Kashi, Sabrina Osborne, Samanta Batra Mehta, Venugopal V G. The show is curated by Lina Vincent Sunish.

The show previews on 4th January 2014 and is on view till 25th January 2014.

Buy Art 2014

Icon Art Gallery, Hyderabad presents a group show titled, ‘Bur art 2014’ of art works by upcoming and eminent artists. The show displays affordable art to entice the interest of the art buyers and collectors for this festive season.

The collection on display includes drawings, prints, paintings and sculptures to be chosen from. The 57 participating artists are Balabhakta Raju, Bhaskar Rao.B, Shambu Prasad  Reddy, Samiran Dhar,  Aekka Yadagiri Rao, Srikant  Dhunde, Lester Paul, Glower Paul, Jayaprakash, Konda Srinivas, Gangadhar M, Santhosh Kotagiri, Bholekar Srihari, Jayanth Manda, Vijay Belde, Aman Preet Spale, Saraswathi L, Giridhar Goud, Sridhar Rao Kulkarni, Pavan Kumar D, Dinesh Pimple, Paramashivan K, Rama Krishna, Sangpal Chwan, Vani C H, Kumaraswamy B, Nageshwara Rao, Gouri Vemula, Shivkumar K, Nagasai Kumar, Sai Kiran, Manohar Rao, G Vinod Kumar, Sai Kumar, M R Subramanyam,  Kiran Thandoju, Mohan Rao, Agacharya, Vijay M Dhore, Surekha Sadana, Balaya, Raghu Akula, Prakash, Madhu Kurva, Ramana Akki Raju, Shravan Kumar GK, Maddileti G, Avani Rao Gandra, Srinivas Reddy B, Iruvan Karunakaran, Satheesh Kanna, Tailor Srinivas, Pramod Reddy Gade

The show is on from 31st December 2013 to 1st February 2014.

Swiss Residencies - Call for applications

Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council supports residencies in Switzerland and India. Artists and cultural practitioners (e.g. curators, event organisers, mediators) in the areas of the visual arts, music, literature, theatre and dance are eligible to apply. 

The categories for residencies are:
Studio residency 2015 :
A studio residency (3 months) in, India or, conversely in Switzerland, gives artists the chance to gain a broad insight into a different cultural environment. The aim of the residency is to find inspiration, establish networks and contemplate new projects and cooperation's. In addition to a place to work and accommodation, Pro Helvetia will provide specific coaching. The Swiss Arts Council covers the cost of travel, insurances and per diem expenses. A maximum of four applications can be considered per region each year. Applicants may apply three times in total for a Pro Helvetia studio residency. Applications can be submitted until 1 March 2014 via www.myprohelvetia.ch for 2015. 

Research residency :
A research residency (max. 4 weeks) enables artists and cultural practitioners (e.g. curators, event organisers, mediators) to carry out research in India or, conversely in Switzerland. The aim of the residency is to prepare an exchange project. Pro Helvetia supports the compilation of the visiting programme with professional know-how. The Swiss Arts council covers the costs of travel, accommodation, insurance and per diem expenses. 
Applications can be submitted via www.myprohelvetia.ch at any time up to three months before the start of the trip. Applications must be written in English. 

The last date for submission of application forms for studio residencies, for the year 2015 is 1 March 2014. 

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Memory keeper

Beneath the simplicity of Tanmoy Samanta’s art lies a dense world where personal history meets the politics of our times

(At Dusk by Tanmoy Samanta)

When you have so much chutzpah around in the art world, it’s possible for a frill-free affair like “All I have learned and forgotten” to go unnoticed. In this raging hullabaloo over all things new and experimental, a quiet series of work like this — uncomplicated (though only seemingly, otherwise it is heavily layered) that too rendered in traditional mediums like gouache can get eclipsed but those who remain concerned with the ingenuity of art wouldn’t have the slightest doubt over such works. The faith is further reinstated when S.V. Gaitonde’s minimalist landscape is sold for a whopping Rs. 23.7 crore at the Christie’s inaugural auction in India.

It is Tanmoy Samanta’s third solo show at Renu Modi’s Gallery Espace where the Delhi-based artist displays 20 works like gouache on rice paper and recycled 3-dimensional books. “I think I am a prisoner of my own sensibilities…I am still not bored with painting,” says Samanta in response to a question about whether or not he felt tempted to choose the medium of installations for his discourse. Though, there are recycled books but they lack the drama and absurdity of so many of installation pieces one comes across.

(The Cartographers' Paradox by Tanmoy Samanta)

He dwells on the idea of memory in this show with maps, clocks, books, keys and locks occupying the centrestage on his canvases. And these objects have travelled via the route of artist’s personal history as Tanmoy is a collector of objects like broken toys, old keys and globes etc. Now when he places them on his canvas, shifting their purpose, the personal history comes to have a new narrative. “A new story is created by subverting the object,” says the young artist. For instance, a padlock, with slight alterations to its form, comes to assume a different identity, a butterfly is turned upside down, evoking the wonder of magical realism. “It is because I read a lot. With both my parents belonging to the world of literature, I was exposed to classics in my childhood and I continue reading them. So influenced am I by writers like Kafka and Marquez (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) that I take directly from them and interpret it visually. So there are a lot of literary influences, allegory and metaphors,” explains the recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award, New York in 2003. Within the plot of his personal history are the sub-plots of politics of our times for instance in “Cartographer’s Paradox – I” in which he subverts a map, reimagining it completely, he blurs boundaries or when he brings two unlikely things together — a bird perched on a gun in “At Dusk”.

(The Padlock by Tanmoy Samanta)

Other influence on his artistic vision is Santiniketan where he formally studied art. The Oriental feel of his work — the lyricism and minimalism with definitive lines further accentuated by the use of gouache and rice paper also comes from the Santiniketan tradition. “Yes, Santiniketan is definitely an influence. I take inspiration from the Japanese prints that I came across in its library. Also, Far East is an important part of the art history taught there unlike other art institutions. As for rice paper and gouache, the usage was also determined by their alignment to my artistic practice. I like to linger on one work for a long time and ordinary paper doesn’t reciprocate so well when you apply layers after layers. And watercolours get totally absorbed which is why I chose gouache,” says Tanmoy.

The exhibition is on at Gallery Espace, New Friends Colony, Community Centre, till January 12, 2014.

(Report by Shailaja Tripathi for the The Hindu)