The creative corridors have been walked by many a man who’ve chosen it as their path of exploration. Each piece they have created tells the tales of the time they belonged to—now proudly displayed at Art Now 17, an exhibition by Art Alive Gallery that engages you in contemporary art.
The exhibition—second in a series that presents new works by various virtuosos—is open for public till January 15. The first show was held in Mumbai last year. The aim is to compile these into a volume called ‘Art Now’, slated for release in 2020.
Of the 34 participating artists, a few have found themselves in the focus section of the exhibition. However, we found our anchorage in the 85-year-old veteran, Sakti Burman. Shaking slightly in his cardinal red pants, pale yellow shirt and socks, navy blue scarf and a grey pocket square, he has every bit of the vitality you see in his paintings. In what is seen as his proud moment, Burman is sharing the space with daughter Maya Burman and niece Jayasri Burman, bringing together three generations of artists, exemplifying the essence of the exhibition, which is to show evolving art practices. “Decades ago, art was much simpler. It was about recreating something you saw. But over the time, it has become a precursor to know not just the world you live in, but also yourself,” says Burman.
Art changes but never grows, according to him. “It is a continuous process of experience. How can it grow? If it grew into something bigger, its meaning would change,” he says, attempting a half smile.
Many things have influenced Burman’s art but he hesitates before answering them. Each observation settles down subconsciously but pops up at the right time. That’s exactly how the Lord Krishna piece on display took shape. “I had a little Krishna sculpture in my house. It never said anything to me. But recently, all of a sudden, it stood out. I picked up my brush, took out a canvas and began to paint,” he says, emphasising how art is, and will always be, an explicit reflection of emotional, cultural, political and social influences.
Kristen Hanna, Jorgen Chowdhury, Anjolie Ela Menon, Manu Parekh, Thota Vaikuntam, Jatin Das, K S Radhakrishnan, Arpana Caur and several others are partaking in Art Now. Each of their works shows changing visions that are achieved through the contextual use of colours and versatility of different mediums.
Here, the artist becomes the master of his thoughts and the canvas becomes his language of communication, allowing time to speak for itself through it all.