Art Musings opens its 2015 edition of Quarto, a group exhibition featuring 4 renowned contemporary artists Baiju Parthan, Gopikrishna, Raghava K K, and Chittrovanu Mazumdar on 4 May 2015. The gallery will display important works from their archives, which are part of their permanent collection, along with recent paintings.
04.05.2015 – 20.07.2015
Art Musings is proud to present a solo exhibition of Padma Vibhushan S H Raza in celebration of his 93rd birthday, entitled Aarambh @ 93. In the course of a career spanning seven decades, Raza has dedicated himself to a quest for vital forms that convey his earliest memories of landscape and cosmic expanse, language and silence. The circle or ‘Bindu’ has become more of an icon, sacred in its symbolism, and placing his work in an Indian context. To Raza, painting is akin to the meditative practice of japa, the fully-engaged repetition of a mantra, until it is deepened and concentrated into a pathway of energy. Among Raza’s recent works, the artist includes among abstract shapes, words or letters which appear with symbolic hieroglyphs. The image of the Bindu remains an essential quotient in his paintings. He continues to consider its possibilities by repeating, fragmenting, excavating its form. By pushing his work towards a meditative space, Raza’s body of work engages in a timeless convergence between outer and inner worlds.
02.03.2015 – 15.04.2015
In Memory of Red, the artworks are not only a reflection of its maker’s interiority, but documents of a specific time and place. Through her sculptures and installations, Smriti Dixit connects personal and collective memories, revealing that history is not recorded by objects, but imagined through them. Her work investigates the potential of the neglected, and the lyricism of the forgotten. In this sense, Dixit collects the future ruins of our civilization, a reminder that we are only remembered by what we leave behind. In the wall installations, Dixit returns to the quilt, a form she has experimented with in various ways. Dixit activates the history of quilting, choosing materials from outside of the home, encoding it with a meaning that is beyond the domestic. The fabric hangs from the wall like a web of arteries, of bloodline and lineage, passed from one woman to another. Objects, both found and personal are interspersed in the quilt, adding physical and psychological and psychological weight, creating points of meeting and stoppages along the grid. In the 2015 edition of the Art Fair, Art Musings is presenting a site specific work from the series ‘Memory of Red’ in the special project section.
16.01.2015 – 21.02.2015
Jayasri’s art, derived from the rich tradition of Hindu mythology, has carved out its own identity. The imagery in Jayasri Burman’s work has a dream-like and lyrical quality. Inspired by Indian folk element, the works have a unique sensitivity. Her deep-rooted understanding of Indian mythology, Bengali culture and tradition does not escape her artworks whether they are sculptures or paintings. In her paintings one sees the careful repetition of the surface, unwavering and exquisite, with layers of cross-hatching and the textures of fabrics adorning her characters. She weaves the element of the folk idiom into the intricate patterns of her works, without losing the natural charm and naiveté that is uniquely her own. Jayasri’s themes deal with the traditional and sacred, but the artist gives her works a nuance that is reinterpreted to have a more contemporary context. The magical, mythical creatures that inhabit her world, that perpetuate life and love, are central to Jayasri’s story telling and the narrative structures of her paintings. Jayasri has participated in landmark exhibitions all over the world, including the recently concluded St Moritz Art Masters, in Switzerland. She has had several solo shows, including Fables & Folklore, 2010, and Sacred Feminine 2006, with Art Musings. Her works can be found in important museum and private collections. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
21.11.2014 – 31.12.2014
Nandagopal’s narrative sculptural work constitutes one of the most important collections in contemporary Indian sculpture. While Nandagopal is an artist steeped in tradition, his work has a contemporary sensibility that appeals to an international taste. The sculptures are in copper, brass, enamel and silver. Nandagopal combines the latent memories of a magnificent, highly evolved tradition with experiences of a vital contemporary West. Nandagopal is the recipient of several important national awards. Several of his large murals have been commissioned and can be seen in public venues like the Hotel Taj Connemara, Chennai; Hotel Sofitel Surya, New Delhi; Hotel Taj Chandera, Khajurao; Priyadarshini Park, Mumbai; and the TCI, Gurgaon. The artist has had several exhibitions all over India and abroad.
10.09.2014 – 31.10.2014
Art Musings opens their next exhibition Solitary Spaces, featuring Bengal-based artist Lalu Prasad Shaw, showcasing works in tempera.
25.07.2014 – 31.08.2014
Art Musings opens their next exhibition Rhapsody featuring watercolour works by Paris-based artist Maya Burman on 5 June 2014. Daughter of celebrated Indian painter Sakti Burman and French artist Maite Delteil, Maya has developed her own unique style. Maya Burman’s inclination towards floral, decorative patters is along the lines of the French Art Nouveau tradition. Patterns weave and float around the central forms evoking a sense of exuberance and joie de vivre. Maya creates a dreamlike fairyland in her paintings. Most of her characters are imaginary people, but she weaves in her own experiences and personal mythology. Her former training in architecture influences her work, visible in the scenes set within arches, columns and porches. In the larger works there are multiple viewpoints and the sections are not always linear. In the smaller format works however, she depicts a minutely dense imagery. The exhibition continues till 20 July 2014.
05.06.2014 – 20.07.2014
Nandan Purkayastha’s second solo exhibition Endgame, opens on 22 April at Art Musings. Nandan Purkayashtha’s monochrome drawings are full of detail and dimension, with the fine black and white spiral pattern giving them a unique complexity. The artist uses pen and ink to create expansive spaces rich in mythological and historical references. Patterns are deftly overlaid, giving the drawings the tactility and texture of fabric. Distortions of space and time come together to tell complex stories, and Purkayashtha’s fantastical landscapes play with movement and illusion, as in a monumental vision of the Taj Mahal, rippling as though it is reflected in a pool of water. Figures navigate through winding picture planes, woven into the stark contrast of black and white. They emerge half-formed, indistinct from a twisting staircase or swirling cloud, animating the inanimate. Bodies and shadows make up a narrative that is sexually deviant, subverting the naïve veneer often associated with fairy tales. Pieces are immobile in an elaborate game of chess, waiting at the brink of action.
22.04.2014 – 31.05.2014
Art Musings is presenting a solo exhibition of one of India’s most prominent sculptors K S Radhakrishnan entitled terrafly. The exhibition features a series of his new sculptures, where he represents his desire to engage with his sculptural protagonist Musui’s conscience and the fluidity of Musui’s self. The title sculpture Terrafly is replete with nuanced meanings. Musui, an air bound presence at the top of a vertical column surveys all that is going on around the column. He is at once the state and the presence of a soul. The sculptor brings in a double metaphor here; one critical and the other benevolent. While making Musui an agent of intrusive gaze, Radhakrishnan counterbalances it with the benevolent presence. The other sculptures depict Maiya as a physical manifestation of Musui’s conscience placed on Musui’s head. Through these works Radhakrishnan makes a statement about the mysterious existence of the human conscience and its burdening effect on the actions of human beings. Radhakrishnan reaffirms the inseparability of Musui and Maiya – the male and the female.
20.03.2014 – 15.04.2014
Art Musings, in collaboration with Natesan’s Antiqarts is presenting Itihaas, an exhibition of rare sculptures, being displayed for the first time in Mumbai. Itihaas takes you on a journey through India’s glorious past, from 1500 BC to 2000 CE, cutting across various geographies, dynasties and medium to give the art lover a view of ancient Indian art in a capsule. On display in the exhibition is a bouquet of objects ranging from 1500 BC to 1930 CE covering dynasties as diverse as Chola, Hoysala, Chera, Rashtrakuta and others. From an ancient harpoon to Chola sculptures to Mysore paintings, the display opens new vistas in to the lesser explored area of Indian antiquities. It is curated to give the curious art lover a clearer vision of India’s glorious past.
28.02.2014 – 15.03.2014
