Dots, dashes and lines — the primal components of a drawing, that form the base of any piece of art. They can exist alone and can be singled out or be part of a whole; they can be initial sketches of a work in progress, or the finished work itself. Dot, Dash, Line and its Narrative, an ongoing exhibition at Art Houz gallery, delves into the different forms these components can take, through the works of 11 artists.
The gallery walls are a hazy hue of grey. On the walls are pen and ink drawings, pencil sketches and drafts, monochromatic works done with graphite, and even acrylic on canvas. But collectively, they speak the language of noir. Curated by art historian Ashrafi S Bhagat, each of the artists (all notable South Indian contemporary artists, veterans as well as up-and-coming) presents a different version of what these components mean to him or her; these are narratives starkly different from each other — essentially a collection of drawings and the processes that lead to a finished piece of art.
“Drawing is the initial process for an artist. Even if we look at the Renaissance artists, a lot of them owned a number of sketchbooks, and these sketches are what eventually lead to the works. Today, art students are often stuck with the idea that they can plunge straight into the work by just looking at a reference image. I increasingly see young students dismiss the importance of drawing,” says Ashrafi, of the idea behind this exhibition.
For instance, SG Vasudev’s Rhapsody series is an abstract rendition of surreal ideas, using nothing but ink on paper. They are lean, yet speak of fluidity in ideas; be it human figurines or representations of animals almost completely rendered through free-hand drawing. Abstract ideas remain crowded in the seemingly simple pieces. On the other end of the spectrum is RB Bhaskaran’s Urban Landscape, a work in acrylic, predominantly done in black and white. Reflecting a crowded urban scene set against a dark background, the work is figurative and displays elements like a cluster of gabled houses and sparse vegetation. Another one of the artist’s drawings is a fluid narration of a woman’s casual posture; here, the focus is on her body.
On the contemporary end of the spectrum is Parvathi Nayar’s The Travelling Icon series, done in pencil and paired with 3D sculpture drawings. An interesting take on travel and a subversion of the idea of privacy. Speaking of the series, the Chennai-based artist who works a lot with the concept of water (by her own admission), says, “Drawing is at the centre of my practice. When Ashrafi contacted me, she told me that the work should be around the central idea of a personal journey or have something to do with the city.” She adds, “I thought it would be nice to show sculptures drawn on a 3D surface, and not flat. The idea is literally of a journey: in this case what is inside is shown outside, subverting the idea of privacy as well.” The concept also impinges on how ideas travel and evolve to earn their own shape.
Realistic sketches, too, make an appearance in this collection. Sivabalan’s untitled series featuring snapshots of the daily scenes from a village is an apt example: be it a woman tending to her child, or a drummer playing in wild abandon amid a village festival. Done in charcoal, the figures seem as though they are emanating a soft glow of grey, when set against the white canvas.
Dot, Dash, Line and its Narrative will be on till September 7 at Art Houz gallery, Nungambakkam.
