studio practices (continued...)

June 19 - July 18, 2009

Arun Peje, Bidyut Singha, E. Hari Narayan, Kavit Mody, Manoj Sinha, Raman Adone, Yugashri S.A

Studio Practices, a two-part exhibition showcasing works of 15 emerging artists at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, completed its first part on the 13th of June, 2009. It continues with the presentation of works by 8 new artists on the 19th of June. It is on view until the 18th of July, 2009.

Each artist will present a small body of work and on the whole the exhibit is to be perceived as several solo shows, rather than a large curated one. Although, parallels have been drawn from each artist's work and the process of abstract thought and narrative form have been considered, when placing artists in the respective exhibitions. Unlike the first part this current presentation does not include a formatted 'studio space'. But the display on the whole is brought about informally so as to get a taste of it.

Representational-autobiographical narratives are a major property in most works in this exhibition. From Bhuvanesh Gowda's sensuous sculptures and E Hari Narayan's figurative abstracts to Kavit Mody's film (in French) and photographs on mental and human displacement, Arun Peje's drawings from everyday life to Yugashri's stolen moments on paper, Raman Adone's portraits to Manoj Sinha and Bidyut Singha's questions on social and personal politics, this show is a mouthful to viewers with questions and the desire to see upcoming artists and their views.

Arun Peje
Born in 1982, Arun completed his graduation from Sir J J School of Art in 2005. Always intrigued by the strata of 'society' he has translated it into visuals with great integrity and simplicity of form. This body of work unlike his earlier ones on canvas is mixed media on paper in a much smaller format. It is the pursuing of that which is more intimate, a conversion of the self to a social-self, a metaphorical display of the human mind and processes thereof. The work Human portrays a mind controlled by the social remote system. It is the living and processing in the atmosphere engraved with definitions, stares back in self-denial. The ultra-violet rays from the remote control spell out ideologies and make-shift subjective isms on religion, social structuring and classified discriminations. The body of the dog is robust and looks like it will eventually take over, totally. The human head appears to be disappearing under the pressure, but still portrays a cold hard obsessive gaze.

Hybrid, the human with built in motor parts humorously apes the daily life in a metro. It does not only delve into the physical labour but also mimics the state our minds. The constant occupancy of the self, power, ego and the never ending rut to dig deeper for gold of all kinds, makes us not only mechanical but also keeps us unfainting in a race to outdo ourselves. He has merged simple domestic visuals to compose those that are integrally determining of our nature, a nature that has made living in the metros more than just a singular struggle for survival.

Man - Flower, Jhivala (Close to ones heart), and Jeevachi Mumbai are the other works that complete Arun's presentation in this exhibition. They examine silently and metaphorically the conditioning of the portrayal of happiness, the dejection of loved ones and the intensity of living in a city like Mumbai.

His works are autobiographical in a sense but also a sincere portrait of the everyday man in the city.
Arun lives and works in Mumbai.

Yugashri S A
Beds, Kitchen shelves, childrens' toys, buckets and water heaters….

Blackened forms of household appliances and lived in spaces span out onto Yugashri's evenly sized paper works. These images are black and white print outs from photographs she has captured in her home. Re-worked around it, building a dream ambience than in what they are in, in reality, she intertwines dream and hope, the present and the probable future. Not ending at that, the spaces re-created in these works, reveal a mind that sees the mundane as precious, the household chores and the act of art making, the strictness of privacy a gentle visual. Colour pencils, felt pens, watercolors, graphite and stain glass colours are some of the mediums she processes these works with. As mediums they also each carry their character in the forms and they occupy - the luminosity of the stain glass colors bear the warmth and the fragility of the bed they decorate.

Having completed her BFA from the Chitrakala Parishad in Bangalore, Yugashri had her first solo at Gallery Sumukha in Bangalore. She lives and works in Bhopal

Raman Adone
The human nature, psyche and anatomy have intrigued artists for generations. Raman began his steady walk down this narrow road, after he completed his master's degree from the J J School of Art. Currently his portraits are in the pursuit of capturing moments during the transition of emotions and thoughts and mapping them with the stillness of situations. In four dimensions of life, a 4 part work, one follows the ever changing fluid portraits that occupy a part of the drawing while in the background a scenic linear illustration holds peacefully the moment of day and a phase of life - bringing us to the fact how constant our surroundings are in terms of provisions, questions, hopes to which we have to be ever adaptable.

In Man moving from a different path the portraits are disfigured but outlined perfectly. The change in one self that is brought about by constant traveling and adaptation to the altering situations that arise with the places visited is portrayed in this 5-part work. The application of color and the distortion of the overall character of the one portrayed bring a sense of individuality to each drawing but in a surreal way manages to maintain an overall singularity of the person's identity.

The simplicity of moments caught with such rapidity and calmness is a unique property in Raman's work.
Raman lives and works in Mumbai

Bidyut Singha
After a couple of solos and participations in group shows, the elusive Bidyut Singha, presents a set of drawings in Studio Practices. Having worked in various mediums from watercolors to pastels and cut-outs to installation in metal, board and paper he has skillfully retained a constant focus on issues on the environment, self, social disarray, globalization and degeneration of social thought and togetherness.
In this exhibition his works are a set of 9 drawings that repeat an identical figure - A marching soldier, a rickshaw man, the common man frozen in time. Their constantness in every frame does not give a sense of duplicity but manages to represent globally, the everyday man. His works allow for silent conversation on wars and the daily struggle for existence as the bone thin rickshaw man stares into our face frame after frame. With no statements to be made Bobby simply holds up a mirror to our face.
The portrayal of these drawings is a one that maps the social hiccups. From his studio-quarry he culls visuals and presents them in clean air-conditioned spaces, making the viewing of them a bit stifling, yet mockingly humorous.

Bidyut lives and works in Mumbai

Kavit Mody
A filmmaker and a visual artist, Kavit presents a film and photographs in Studio Practices. The film song of the Terrils, narrated in French with English subtitles, tries to document the emotions of the local people in La Louviere, Belgium, after the closedown of coalmines and related industries in the region.
Processed during a residency there it deals with the social issues and the identity crisis faced by the community. On the whole it very cinematographically and pictorially grasps the past and the present of La Louviere and poetically translates the contradictions felt by the citizens. No interviews or tracings of families are part of the film but an emotional saga spun around Kavit's experience and conversations there.

The photographs are stills of displaced / unattended makeshift living spaces which deals with the identity crisis of immigrants in the metros of India. Mismatched objects pose as remnants of life that once existed in that corner of the city draws a parallel to the film, in which the residents of La Louverie live like mental immigrants in their own city.

Terril (French word): A heap of coal waste forming a shape of pyramid that is usually found outside the coal mines.

Manoj Sinha
The social, political and religious commitments have been a never ending platter of confirmation and opinions on which artists have feasted with their minds. They have not only delved into it personally but have made their created visual, food for thought for all those who view them.

Manoj has been pronouncing the fissure he sees in these issues - the degradation, the solidarity, the attempts to enforce the idea of one, on many. From faith to wars it is the following of one that brings it into a process. In the silence of his studio, Manoj sits among the thousand of references he collates from magazines to newspapers, images from the internet or printed paper in waste bins. Images of common people, social disorder, political salutations and so much more that keeps news channels and the media occupied, are pinned on large soft-boards that replace walls in his room. They not only are references but are also missing links to his visual bank which practices narration that does not define a single act but maps the journey of the people of India as a whole.

A patriot to the bone, Manoj not only creates visuals that make us uneasy, but also sincerely upholds the cause he works towards. His intense rendering of the portraits on the canvas, is directly related to the clarity and perfection he hopes to see in the functioning around him. This autobiographical work poses him as the overseer and controller of thoughts, religions, war and its result. The canvas is a mirror image of the visuals themselves, and places the viewer in his position as the controller of all. Disturbing and mockingly humorous, this work spells Manoj's obsession with finesse, in thought and visual.

Manoj lives and works in Baroda.

E Hari Narayan
Subtle lines cascade in and out of patches of condensed color fields. An experience of being in a miniature format of a large abstract visual dream may be the initial dilemma one faces when viewing Hari's work. Steps taken closer to view the tiny canvasses also physically draw the viewer into the barely legible drawings and scribble that adorn the canvas. Three untitled small canvasses are worked on as a jewel smith would work on a rare gemstone, with precision and finesse yet retaining its character. The pale greens and fresh pinks on them are scooped out from heavily embroidered fabric, graffiti and miniature paintings. The drawings on paper are heavily worked on with floral motifs dissected from miniature paintings and a take on the ritual of Rangoli. Hari processes these paper works as a broken narrative, a still from memory, and a voice from a moment. Sixteen flowers and a mole on the right thigh are dramatic titles but with a pun and flair, to retrieve from the visuals an annoying mystery of who hari is and the strange characters he so dutifully translates into such tender drawings.

Hari completed his graduation from JNTU, Hyderabad in 2000. He lives and works in Hyderabad.