From inside retail spaces, mannequins invite onlookers in despite their vacant, glassy stares. In an art gallery, however, one assumes these props of the consumer economy would be completely incongruous. But an ongoing exhibition in the Capital titled “the ‘mute’ shall talk” detaches mannequins from their usual context, and dolls them up with colours instead of clothes.
Curated by Renu Rana, art critic and editor of Creative Mind magazine, the exhibition brings together 30 works by senior and upcoming artists such as Sanjay Bhattacharya, Sudip Roy, Tahir Siddiqui, Nand Katyal, Jayanta Khan, and the actress Nafisa Ali among others. “The benefit of such an approach is that it gives exposure to upcoming artists,” Renu explained.
The exhibition is also the first of its kind, she added. “We decided not to walk down the trodden path. Mannequins are eye-catching, as yet untried, and therefore radical,” she said. The radical nature of the work hasn’t turned visitors away, however. “We were prepared for a negative reaction, but the response has been extremely good so far,” Renu claimed.
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While experimental art is often deemed irresponsible, the exhibition has a definite political tone, the curator argued, referring to Sidhant Mehta’s mannequin. Titled “Colour Catastrophe”, the headless mannequin is composed of 300 plastic bottles and is reminiscent of the giant installation of fish at Botafago beach in Rio de Janeiro during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development earlier this year.
In using mannequins, the unique styles of the contributing artists, ranging from tribal to contemporary to pop, weren’t compromised or forced to conform to the vision of the curator. The resulting diversity was one of the aims of the exhibition, organised jointly by art consultancy firm Art Inc. and The Blue Art Gallery, according to Renu. “When The Blue Art Gallery asked me to curate an exhibition, I gave it some thought and decided to change the canvas, not the style or the artwork,” she said.
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Jayanta Khan’s mannequin is a case in point. It is a Maasai person, belonging to the Maasai tribe of Africa, rendered in tribal accessories. “Although it is the first time I am working with a mannequin, it derives from my interest in nature and environment,” the Calcutta based artist said.
Mannequins, as an uneven, three-dimensional surface, represented a departure from the familiar for several other artists as well. “They all treated it like a challenge, and couldn’t stop once they’d started. One artist took as little as three days to finish her mannequin,” Renu said.
(The exhibition is on till July 15 at The Blue Art Gallery, Lado Sarai)