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Exhibition brings together works by seven pioneering Indian artists
A new exhibition has brought together works by seven pioneering Indian artists who are often credited for shaping the landscape of art in post-Independence India.
A new exhibition here has brought together works by seven pioneering Indian artists -- Akbar Padamsee, Krishen Khanna, Arpita Singh, Jyoti Bhatt, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Himmat Shah and Vivan Sundaram -- often credited for shaping the landscape of art in post-Independence India.
"Around the Table: Conversations about Milestones, Memories, Mappings", organised by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) and Asia Society India, is a recollection of practices of a generation of artists who are touted to stand out as distinct voices with "clear positions, unapologetically honest about their beliefs". (Also read: Artist Paresh Maity will hold India's largest solo exhibition ‘Infinite Light’ )
It aims at creating signs and indicators towards the practices generated from the 1950s onwards by these seven artists and many of their contemporaries.
"The present exhibition is approached as a midnight feast where the seven co-travellers have gathered to rest their bundles of images and stories after their long travel. As dawn, slowly bleeds into the fading darkness and wanderers are placed around the tavern’s dinner table, a rich repertoire of ephemera and memories unfold.
"The many accounts constituted by the detritus of these artistic connections and crossings build up a vision of history and time that I was fortunate to inherit from some of the awardees showcased in the exhibition, who were also my teachers and mentors," said Roobina Karode, chief curator and Director, KNMA said in a statement.
The exhibition also seeks to uncover intersections and chance encounters between the practices of these seven artists. The seven artists, collectively or separately, mobilised to form artists groups like 'Group 1890', set up publications such as the Vrishchik (1969-1973), gave rise to artistic experimentations in workshops such as the "Vision Exchange "(1969-1972) or the historic exhibition "Place for People" (1981).
"As initiators, institution builders, pedagogues, authors, spearheading art movements, mentors to generations of artists, milestone-makers with the force of iconic exhibitions and publications, their contribution remains irrefutable," the organisers said. The exhibition will come to an end on December 4.
