YELAHANKA:It started as a wild idea for Nihaal Faizal and Roshan Shakeel three years ago. As students of the Srishti Art and Design School in Yelahanka, they would hold “drawing parties” at Nihaal’s PG dig, where friends would sketch, splatter colours, sculpt, screen films and bond and brainstorm over art.
The sessions produced an enormous body of work. That’s when they decided to turn Nihaal’s adda into an art gallery, simply called G 159, after the address. “The idea came about as we were new in the area and eager to form a community around art practice,” recalls Nihaal. Three years on, as their student days end, it’s time to wind up the gallery too. But not before presenting one last big hurrah (see box).
For Nihaal and Roshan, both consummate artists themselves, it’s been an eventful journey, having presented almost 40 shows. “You walk out of your bedroom and there’s this exhibition there,” says Nihaal, who shares the space with three other students. “As an artist, this has been a learning experience,” adds Roshan.
Initially, student-friends from college put up works here. Word spread and students from other institutions like Chitrakala Parishath, faculty from Srishti and established artists from Bengaluru and outside came with exhibits. There was a bid to shut shop two years ago but artist-friends wouldn’t allow that.
There isn’t any media the artists haven’t experimented with: image making, performance, film, sound, interactive conversations, animation, games, music and broadcast. Serious thought was applied to curating works. The rooftop was also a forum to teach everything from poker to tie-and-dye making to tattooing to how to hold a snake.
There’s art everywhere here: in the prayer room, a Wingdings version of the Bible happily shares space with a video installation depicting Bollywood’s chiffony affair with Switzerland. Slide projections of artist Suresh Jayaram’s works during his art school days roll next to Leslie Johnson’s series of self-referential towels hanging from what seems to be a drying stand. “A clothes stand? I’d see it as art,” says Nihaal, matter-of-factly.
Sand sculptures, video art, a poem addressed to grandma and Free Student posters reflecting on the recent JNU crisis show how the personal and political sit lightly in the bedroom space. Even the bare walls outside or the unused lift shaft housing Rakhi Peswani’s installation are statements in art. Fruit arrangements by Gavati Wad during the opening and closing days of the show make art waiting to be consumed.
So how does it feel to wind it all up? “We had to. There was a timeline to it,” says Nihaal. But their initiative has spawned similar efforts among the art community. One of them, Linda Stauffer, turned the garage of her home into a gallery while another borrowed space from a food joint to showcase works.
As one steps out of G 159, the pun on the gallery name by a friend sums up what it has meant to Roshan, Nihaal and the thriving artist community they’ve helped connect over the past three years: Jeevan.59. Life, literally.
Last Show ends today
Aptly called Final Review, the gallery’s last show, culminating on April 18, exhibits works by over 30 artists who have been part of this unique initiative. A music compilation of some artists will also be launched. Roshan has also captured their journey in a game format: a deck of cards that showcases the works of 56 artists.
How to get there: G 159, SFS 208, Yelahanka New Town