The Garhi studios in Delhi has been busy with a number of workshops beginning from tribal arts sculptures to print making painting, ceramic and wood works held in the month of March as a festival. Earth Sprouts which opened this week at the Lalit Kala Akademi is a medley of forms and contours that speak of the salient human spirit.
The famed author James Baldwin wrote: A society must assume that it is stable, but the artist must know, and he must let us know, that there is nothing stable under heaven.” There is something paradoxical in Baldwin’s words and we should see this unveiling in the light of the instability of existence that spurs the art stimulus within.
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In the entire show it is the graphics by six artists that become a study worthy of scrutiny. The three etchings testify to the understanding of aesthetics and the steady stealth of the human hand. Tandra Bhadra’s mapping of a sapling with the progeny of offspring is a stellar composition that highlights the beauty of birth — it is the multiple images that form the backdrop to the growing sapling with the foetus at its apex that makes us think of modern day morality and female foeticide. Then there is Bina Mishra’s poignant imagery of the young woman who virtually walks on thorns to even eke out her existence. Naina Bakshi creates a brilliant portrait of two androgynous humans who talk to us about the identity of bonding in a world full of contradictions and chaos.
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Equally eye catching are the 14 odd ceramic works that are a study in sculptonic intensities as each work echoes a journey that begins at the roots. There is the network of intricate branches in the work of Khageshwara Raout who presents an intricate lattice branched installation with a textured dome done in an earth tone amalgam of natural glazes. The idea of the seed turns our gaze inward into the darkened sensibility of creation in the work of Triveni Prasad Tiwari who calls it The Birth of Ego IV. Other ceramic works too speak of the essence of creation.
Disappointing paintings
The painting section with large diptychs is alas disappointing in terms of strength of composition and the power of the human narrative. While Manu Singh gives us an expanse of a landscape in the study of atmospherics over the sifting currents of water as the sun’s rays create an amorphous feel, Manoj Kumar Bachchan creates a surreal stance in the juxtaposition of a bicycle against a wall that spans the arches of history in tonality and the dexterity of arched ledges that form small alcoves. Deepak Sharma stirs with his surreal script of the little boy playing while the scissor hangs like a weapon that destroys.
Tribal and wooden terrain
Of particular potency and artisanal authority are the 90 Dokhra tribal art sculptures and eight wooden sculptures by artists from the North East that were created during the Art Festival workshops initiated by administrator Krishna Setty. The Dokhra collection done at the 10 day camp puts the spotlight on India’s traditional metal-smith tribes. “They must hold on to tradition and create works that will stand on their own in the contemporary world,” said Setty. Subjects include Hindu and tribal gods and goddesses, figures of people or deities riding elephants, musicians, horses, birds and symbols of ancestor worship. Bal Mukund Nag’s warrior on the horse is a magnificent creature with detailed characteristics. Ravinder Nag’s Mother and Child is a treat for tired eyes. The warrior on the horse is one amongst many who are revered-and referred to as the spirit deity. The mother and child is intriguing for the posture and the poise –interconnected and deeply evocative it has about it a universal appeal.
The wooden sculptures speak of the essence of nature and the symbolism of organic nuances in the synergy of creating merging contours into the textural terrain of wood. Of particular note is the work of Manipur artist Thok Chom Ebotombi Meitei who creates a single image of the index finger moving a pawn on a virtual chessboard. Then there is an organic looking mushroom headed work that hints at a Ganesha by Krishna Basu Matry. Kandarpa Rabha creates a tall totem like work that gives us an amalgam of elements. (The exhbition is on till July21.)