In Patterns of Intensity, poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote has curated young artists whose works look at challenges of habitation and its relationship.
The artworks lead us to pertinent questions of belonging, settlement, design, and the environment. Featured here are Anil Thambai, Barkha Gupta, Chandrashekhar Koteshwar, Ghanshyam Latua, Kaushik Saha, Meghna Patpatia, Purvai Rai, Savia Mahajan, Suman Chandra, Teja Gavankar and Vipul Badva.
“In a world assailed by pandemic, dislocation and uncertainty, these artists offer us hope in crafting a way out of seemingly impossible predicaments. They inspire us with the freshness of their approach to problems and materials, their recalibration of traditional questions of form, content, and the relevance of art to life,” says Hoskote.
With an offline preview, the show will bring together artists who work with different materials, mediums and concepts in a specially curated exhibition which will include paintings to sculptures to mixed media works and installations.
One comes across drawings, ceramics, metal and terracotta sculpture along with trans-media montage in the exhibition. For Sunaina Anand, Director, Art Alive, the previous year has been a challenging one “... and as we return to showing at the physical space of the gallery, I look forward to presenting a platform through this show, where young and established collectors and art enthusiasts can have an interface with the emerging artists and the way they have explored the theme of materiality.”
Purvai Rai, commenting about her work titled Magnetic Fabrics, an acrylic-on-jute rendition, points out that as human beings, we consciously and subconsciously decide who and what makes it into our lives.
“Over time, we have formed communities and place ourselves within them. And some communities that we are a part of are predetermined.” According to her, Magnetic Fabrics looks at landscapes of our identities through time.
“We are born into a world that has evolved collectively, dividing itself into countries/regions, religions, cultures, economic status, and so on-to place ourselves, to belong thus forming the foundation and the fabric that determines our path. As we grow and discover ourselves, our ever-changing identities continue to form as we join new communities that we as individuals connect with,” she adds.
For Delhi-based artist Barkha Gupta, the ideas of identity and space draws her attention.
“When I shut my eyes trees form and grow, and in my memories I see space and structure. Big unmovable trunks, which when I put on paper, dissolve and flow like rivers. My practice explores the themes of identity and space and the intimacies of interactions between them,” she informs. For artist Vipul Badva, an opportunity to travel to different regions led him to his works of art.
“These small experiences allowed me to peak into the world of migratory individuals and their habitation. I draw inspiration from the dream of settlement, as dreamt by urban dwellers and migratory labourers across cities. I place them in my ‘Mayapuri’”.
AT: Art Alive Gallery, S-221 Panchsheel Park
TILL: April 30