Images of rural men and women lost in thought or absorbed in their idyllic lives have often found an artistic expression. Tirumala Tirupathi moves away from the habitual, colourful portraits and etches them on transparent acrylic sheets. One of the illuminated etchings depicts faces of men, women and children in a mela and another presents women idling away. These images have been etched in the reverse and we see mirror images. The ongoing exhibition ‘Explorations’ offers a window to new expressions and techniques.
Aishwarya Sultania re-interprets the written word by filling up a large aluminium sheet with calligraphy and leaving two large word bubbles empty, with lines that perhaps represent static. In another of her stunning work shaped like an anar, she uses acrylic sheet on a wood cut frame, engraved with ‘1 anar 100 beemar yadi aap hi hain woh samajhdar jiske liye hain sab beemar’.
Bharti Verma creates a three-dimensional view of living spaces. Using threads and canvas, she leads us into a spacious living room, a balcony with a view and a metro train coach. These aren’t exercises in capturing architectural beauty but convey a sense of tranquillity.
Yogesh Naik seems to enjoy presenting a bird’s eye view of public spaces. He presents parallel tracks of trains and platforms teeming with people in one work and in another, he presents a marketplace with rows of vendors selling fruits, vegetables and coloured powder. Each row is separated by walkways with people shopping for their wares. Despite the wide angle view, the artist conveys the mood of the people paying attention to their body language.
Swathi Vijay’s canvases are a comment on commercialisation of mainstream media. In one painting, she shows a series of television sets and in her second work, she takes our attention to a young woman impacted by a disaster movie.
Sogra Khurasani’s is a painstaking woodcut print on paper work titled Lost in Valley presenting a sea of blood red flowers, as a metaphor to life and death. In contrast are black and white works of Anupama Kumari. The thick circular lines form the face, contrasted by a sharp nose. The artist speaks of multi-culturalism and wonders if we’ve adapted with the times.
Sayyad Shaik’s paintings capture a city in slumber, is grey and black and Ranjan Ghosh’s works are intriguing with veiled human faces set against colourful tombstones.
On a cheerful note, there’s Mrinmoy Debbarma’s re-interpretation of a Tom and Jerry tussle with Tom painted with 10 heads (one head of a demon) to denote Ravana and Jerry assuming he is lord Ram.
The artists are all Fellows from the Krishnakriti Art Foundation.
What: Explorations, an exhibition of works by Krishnakriti Fellows.
Where: Kalakriti Art Gallery, Road no. 10, Banjara Hills
When: Till October 31
