CHENNAI: For someone who is often intimidated by gallery spaces and terms like modern art, contemporary art, abstract art and the like, I walked into the Contemporary Art Gallery at Egmore museum for Art Student Thoughts’ first art walk in the city, unsure of what to expect. The walk was conceptualised by Anisha Palat and Varsha Narayanan who started Art Student Thoughts as a means to spread art and make it understandable and accessible to all audiences.
“We feel that the conversation surrounding the arts is lacking,” the two said. “We wanted to promote art which is why we decided to do a walk... We met while pursuing our Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Stella Maris College. We always had similar ways of thinking about art.”The objective of this walk, they said, was to show how one can look at and engage with art while also laying a basic foundation for understanding Modern Indian art.
The one-hour long walk was a delightful dive into understanding the makers of Modern Indian art and their work. The group of over 20 people huddled around various paintings in the gallery and tried to interpret what the artist might have been meaning to convey through their work.
As is the case with modern art, each one’s interpretation was welcome by the duo who patiently explained the defining characteristics of each piece and went on to share interesting nuggets of information about the artist and the artwork in addition to peppering the dialogue with interesting anecdotes.
Whether it was starting off the walk with providing a distinction between modern and contemporary art or to calling attention to details about the way Raja Ravi Varma depicted the attire and expressions of women in his paintings, the lessons were enriching. While Ravi Varma’s paintings and depictions of goddesses are etched in our minds, the walk introduced me to a number of other names that I did not know of — each with a distinct style. Be it DP Roy Choudhury, R Krishna Rao, NS Bendre, SG Vasudev, Nandalal Bose, S Dhanapal or Arpana Caur, who happens to be one of the few women featured in the gallery, the walk provided everyone with a list of names to Google and read up on.
The exercise at the end of analysing the art and finishing up a crossword only added to the charm and it was nice to see the gallery space that was empty up until then, filled with curious onlookers who went from one painting to the next, discussing the bold brushstrokes to unwavering linework, the mysticism of certain pieces to the bold political commentary, the choice of colours to the influences of the East in certain paintings. It was a Sunday well spent. For more information on upcoming programmes or for connecting with Anisha and Varsha, you can follow Art Student Thoughts on Instagram (@artstudentthoughts), Facebook (artstudentthoughts) and their blog (artstudentthoughts.org).