E-Paper
Picture perfect
Exhibition of snapshots shows tattered Bollywood posters, broken window panes and tangled electricity wires.
Tucked away in a quiet lane at Kala Ghoda, Hacienda Gallery has been showcasing a mix of art – from small scale paintings, postcard size paintings, art by established master artists and even emerging new talent. Next up is a group show of photographs, Urban Abstracts, which begins on April 12.
Curated by Jagdish Agarwal, the show will feature 32 photographs by five photographers from different parts of the country, but based in Mumbai. “This exhibition is an attempt to show the inner eye of photographers and what a photographers eye spots in this city,” says Agarwal.
He adds, “Wassily Kandisky in 1910 demonstrated that figurative art could be dispensed with by non-figurative or abstract art. Soon photographers too started shooting abstract images. They started with nature and later turned their inner eye to abstract in urban settings.”
Among the photographers, Vishwanath Mishra’s interest lies in things that become part of walls in Mumbai, like scribbles and slogans and movie posters. “I saw this torn picture of Avatar in which only the eye was remaining, and Ishqiya, which I thought would make an interesting photo. These photos tell a different story of these films. And however good the poster, it had to make way for the new one,” says Mishra.
Raw realityArun Kumar who is also a painter, uses his skills to click photographs. “I like to capture the raw reality of the relation of human with nature. Showing a balance of black and white, light and shade in my photo frame is most important to me. It should look rhythmic and poetry-like,” elaborates Kumar.
Other photographers include Ramesh Mashru, who has displayed photographs of architectural elements of buildings in Mumbai. And Tuka Karve’s whose interest lies in looking at lines and compositions formed by the mundane and everyday objects in the city.“I always look for a design element in my compositions,” says Karve.
