HYDERABAD:Pixels. Think of them and a screen appears before the eyes with those enlarged ‘minute areas of illumination’ that soon culminate in the image you are saving or searching for. And art, for all its non-monolithic embraces change. That’s how Shrishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills has organised an art exhibition titled ‘Memory Weave: Of Pixels And Patterns’ consisting of artworks by five artists – Nandan Ghiya, Sonia Jose, Nidhi Khurana, Shuchi Mehta and Mahesh Pottabathini.
All the artworks have one thing in common i.e., they have pixels. The beholder doesn’t need to enlarge anything. A first look gives the impression that the opuses are digital prints, but look closely and you can see the fine strokes of paint brushes giving shape to the artist’s imagination. For example, in the artwork of artist Mahesh Pottabathini entitled ‘Transforming Identity’ one sees picture of a woman with a bright nose-pin, holding puja thali in her hands. The mixed media work is disintegrated in appearance and is an interesting interplay of muted and bright shades juggling with the light entering the canvas. The frame seems to hold the influx splashing it all around. One can immediately understand why the work and its title is such.
The same pixelated haze continues in the artwork of Shuchi Mehta titled ‘Frozen Thoughts’. The opus looks like pixels are arranged together in a honeycomb pattern which is wood done on paper. The tiny wooden blocks are arranged in a geometric pattern that seem reserved about the arrangement which, at the same time, invites and repels the beholder. There’s no movement in the arrangement, hence the apt title.
It’s not just pixels that dominate the artworks, true to its name some artworks focus on different media as well. The oeuvre of Nidhi Khurana is in wool, natural dyed silk and stitching and is the map of Kashmir. The work has a split in the middle and its borders are done in blood-red wool pertaining to the conflict in the state. The murky background aptly depicts the turmoil people in the state are going through. The background has some slight shimmer hiding some darkness in it which is depressive while invoking hope at the same time. The exhibition will be on till February 25