August – September, 2011



Gallery Espace, Mumbai
Lv, Pony, a sequel to 'Rivers of Blood'
July 21 to August 20, 2011
Gallery Espace will showcase Lv, Pony, a sequel to 'Rivers of Blood' exhibited in Mumbai in 2010 by Paula Sengupta. The solo work addresses the conflicts, contradictions, and complex politics that both bind and divide the three nations- India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Through the phenomenon of war, the artist weaves a layered and complex collection of memorabilia. Paula has tried to create a museum of memory, an assortment of what she terms “war memorabilia”.

She has used colonial cross-stitch textiles, fine muslins and jamdanis from Dhaka using the "nakshi kantha" (a quilting technique of Bangladesh from where she hails) juxtaposed with colonial forms of embroidery such as stem-stitch, chain-stitch, and buttonhole-stitch.

The texts and audios are drawn from a variety of sources including the reminiscences of Indian army officers who served in the war of 1971 as also of ordinary civilians impacted by the war, and from Rabindranath Tagore's lyrics from Aamar Shonar Bangla that had emerged as a heroic symbol of the Bengali cultural identity during the struggle for liberation, and was adopted in 1972 as the official national anthem of the newly formed nation of Bangladesh.




Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai
Lush & Transcendent works on paper by Sohan Qadri
July 25 to August 16, 2011
Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai presents works of the late Sohan Qadri .His lush and transcendent works of dye on paper recall the palette and spiritual abundance of India, Qadri's homeland. The rhythmic movements of 'colour energies' are conveyed within the repeating patterns of dots and striations that undulate across the paper.

Contemporary spiritual artist Sohan Qadri stood apart from the rest of his generation of painters for his devotion to his cause - pursuing the divine through art and poetry. His art interpreted ancient tantrik philosophy of meditation, renunciation and freedom, and commune with the almighty into colours on papers.

Rich dyes of ochre, cerulean, crimson, or saffron transform the surfaces of each work into radiant pools from which the eye cannot look away. Qadri was exposed to Sufism, Hinduism and the Sikh religion when growing up in India. His art is informed by and an important practice of his spiritual path- particularly as a part of Vajrayana Buddhism. Qadri had over forty one-man shows throughout the world.





Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi
Relate: Watercolours by Rajat Bandopadhyay
August 1 to August 10, 2011
Rajat Bandopadhyay,  is an arts graduate from Kolkata's Govt College of Arts & Crafts (GCAC) and a creative professional in the advertising domain for the last two decades. Relate will be his first solo exhibition and he hopes that his viewers will connect and relate with his artworks in their own way.

The exhibition will showcase Rajat's renditions in watercolours titled Hope, Abandoned, Trinity and History to name a few.

Rajat's fascination for paintings struck since childhood. During his college he was chosen under the young artist category for a West Bengal Government project. He started his journey in 1994 at Chitra Kala Parishad, Bangalore where he participated in a group show of young artists. He was also a part of a group show in New Delhi at The Art Konsult gallery. Watercolour is his forte and he likes to capture nature, landscapes and environment on his canvas.





Seven Art Limited Gallery, New Delhi
Two Positions Part II by Siddhartha Kararwal & Yamini Sharma
August 4 to August 27, 2011
Seven Art Limited Gallery showcases, titled Two Positions Part II, the art works of two young contemporary Baroda based artists Siddhartha Kararwal and Yamini Sharma. They exhibit large-scale sculpture and installation works, composed of non-traditional and low-tech materials.

Siddhartha Kararwal displays several works which are based on the idea of hybrid and deviant cultures. By recreating a monument of Maharaja Sayajirao in soft white T-shirt that had been donated to poor Indian communities by an American charity but somehow made their way onto the open market, replete with their luxury labels, he comments on both the ability to influence the significance of a historical sculpture as well as the deviating cultures of commerce.

The works by Yamini Sharma are made of foam, fabric and other soft materials stretched over wire armatures, conjuring up organic forms and processes. Abstract in form, the works are representative of the artist's instinctive response to events and things she observes in the world. Her installation of elaborate suspended sculptures in bright red and black which are lit from within reference both insectivorous plants, such as the Venus flytrap, beautiful yet dangerous, as well as referring to the womb or a place of birth and creation.





Harmony Art Foundation
Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai
The Harmony Art Show 2011, Fabular Bodies: New Narratives in the Art of the Miniature curated by Gayatri Sinha
August 6 to August 14, 2011
The Harmony Art Show 2011, Fabular Bodies: New Narratives in the Art of the Miniature, will exhibit the works of twenty-four artists, who are defining the new explorations of a traditional technique, including Nilima Sheikh, N S Harsha, Arpita Singh and B Manjunath Kamath, and engage with drawing, painting, photography, sculpture and computer graphics to adapt the Indian miniature to a present-day world view. These contemporary artists interpret and absorb the heritage of one of the most enduring and striking art forms: the miniature. Tracing its history to the royal courts of Central Asia and India, the influence of the miniature as an art form can be felt right through the 20th century and beyond. This brings into play aspects like the city and urbanism, concerns of the body and social identity, mapping and cartography, history and news, often with overtones of wit and irony.





Museum Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai
Revisiting 1950s with Ratan Parimoo: Paintings exhibition of Modern Indian Art by Ratan Parimoo
August 22 to August 28, 2011
Ratan Parimoo (born 1936 in Srinagar, Kashmir) is one of the major art historians and painters of modern India. He obtained his graduation in Fine Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts. Afterwards he obtained M A in (Fine) Creative Painting. Ratan Parimoo obtained his graduate degree in History of Art from London University. He obtained Ph D in Art history. He has been the Lecturer in Art History, Baroda;  Professor in Art History and Aesthetics; and also the Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda.

The painting exhibition at Museum Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda consists of his works from 1956 - 1960 only.





Emami Chisel Art, Kolkata
Visual Ventures curated by Dr Saba Gulraiz
August 23 to September 17, 2011
The quintessence of Indian artistic culture is its richly speckled vision that reflects the dappled hues of Indian sensibilities whether they are spiritual, philosophical, mythological, social or religious.

With this concept the exhibition Visual Ventures, curated by Dr Saba Gulraiz, aims to bring together these diversified visions and expressions at one place. The exhibition will feature those select artists from various parts of India who are successful in creating a strong visual language through which they are venturing forth to communicate their artistic sensibilities. The exhibition is a collective attempt to present a glimpse of this boundless, myriad world of vision.

The show which will be inaugurated by Ganesh Haloi, will offer an opportunity to witness exquisite works culled from 22 artists including Akbar Padamsee, Jeram Patel, Gogi Saroj Pal, Achuthan Kudallur, Amitava Dhar, R M Palaniappan, Rini Dhumal, Yusuf, R B Bhaskaran, Shekhar Roy, Sunil De, Samindranath Majumdar, Shobha Broota, Seema Kohli, S Harsha Vardhana, Gopi Gajwani, Faiza Huma, Shridhar Iyer, Saba Hasan, Vilas Shinde, Jinsook Shinde and Yogesh Rawal.