Indian Artist Singh Pratibha

Singh Pratibha was born in 1976 in New Delhi, India, where she is currently living and working today. She studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in New Delhi, India, from 1997-2000. Pratibha specialises in Fashion Design. Her works have been in exhibitions all over the world:

Group Exhibitions

2010

The Drifters, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, India

Indo KoreanArt, Kyung Sung University, Busan, Korea

2009 

The Drifters, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, India

India Art Summit, Religare Art, India

Art Select, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

She says,

“I understood art when I moved to Iraq as a four year old during the Iraq-Iran war. I lived in an Indian camp where the small Indian community preferred staying within and didn’t interact much with life outside that was dominated by a language and culture so different.

Iraq looked, smelt and sounded different.

Unlike India, Iraq was not busy and everything seemed to have a strange character of mystery. People looked deep into my eyes with curiosity and I imagined dressing up like them and living their lives.

This is when I developed a sense of art and started using my imagination to understand the uniqueness and complexity of life and my relationship to the intriguing cultures and spaces through the smells, sounds and images around me.”

In 1999 she was awarded Most Innovative Design by De Beers.

Please enjoy some of Singh Pratibha’s work images!

"Map Becoming", acrylic, ink and gold foil on French oil paper, 25 x 39 in

"The Happy Earth Series", mixed media on paper, 12 x 16 in, 2009

"The Happy Earth Series", mixed media on paper, 12 x 16 in, 2009

Indian Artist Shashi Kanak

Indian Artist Kanak Shashi was born in 1980 in Indore, India. Today, she is currently living and working in New Delhi, India where she specialises in Mixed Media and Painting. In 2002 she earned a B.F.A. from Faculty of Fine Arts Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Vadodara, Gujarat, India. In 2004 Kanak earned an M.F.A. from the same institution. Her works have been featured in group exhibitions in India:

Group Exhibitions

2010

Drifters, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, India

2009

Drifters, Art Konsult, New Delhi, India

Multitudes, Zen Art Studio, Cochin, India

Multitudes, Max Muller Bhawan, Bangalore, India

2006

PACHIMARI, Camp I & II, Lanxess ABS, Vadodara, India

She says,

“It is always difficult for me to speak or write about my work in words. I would rather love that my work speaks for itself. But if given a choice to express, I would say I love painting women and I celebrate womanhood through my paintings. I feel that with this, I am defining or evolving my own womanhood. My painting works at different levels – one very personal, the other very pictorial and painterly.

Since socially, I have not lived my life as a woman for almost 26 years, now that I am in my true body I feel completely at home, and each new experience and feeling makes me celebrate my womanhood. Perhaps being placed in a wrong body has inspired me to think and explore the woman image beyond the conventional horizons.

There is no fixed definition of ‘woman’ or ‘womanhood’, yet somewhere we all define it for ourselves… And that is what I am doing – living life through painting…

While painting ‘woman’, the most painted subject in human history, one realizes that most of these images celebrate the female figure as an object of desire for men. In fact, the stereotypes are so predominant that many a time, even female painters tend to represent woman through the male gaze. That’s why one of my intentions is to crack this mould of the pretty, submissive, persona-less image of women, in which each move and gesture of theirs is controlled in such a way that they come out as a mere sex object.

I choose a language which is very close to illustration, and I think representing woman in contrast light – a known and accepted language is a better choice. When I look out for references I find the work of Paula Rego, the Portuguese painter, very unusual. In there lies a very simple story telling technique to reach out to the viewer; but more than that – we both share similar subject matter and concern. I feel awed by her mastery in dealing with woman as a subject in her painting and illustrations.

My other favourite works are those of Elain De Kooning and Cindy Sherman.

I always wanted to paint my female figures strong, powerful and independent. To achieve these characters I used various pictorial elements, like lighting, use of bold strokes and distortion of certain parts of body, and putting less emphasis on others. While working on figures, I try to find and focus on the area where I feel lies the most strength and also the maximum vulnerability. Figures in my work generally take up most of the picture plane and vary from life-size to larger.

More importantly, my effort is always towards capturing a frozen moment, which I can see as an inner existential state coming through. I try capturing different states of female mind, mood and try to emphasize on distinct elements of their character. I let the facial expression, composition, color and other pictorial elements convey to the viewer, the mood I intended to portray/capture.

In my earlier paintings, I gave all the importance only to the main figure, and kept the background silent. Now I have started introducing new elements into the painting – origami birds, cats, plants and movement in the background. Even friends and people have started to come in now, which gives me more challenge to keep my stands firm, in context of seeing woman in a frame shared with man. Also, placing man and woman together in the frame brings up interesting interaction and conflicts.

It is very interesting to work on such paintings where one wants to give equal importance to both the figures; but to make this balance one could end up with too many new elements in the painting. That is why, in my painting process, it is very important for me that I conceive the figures and their position in the beginning, while the rest is achieved during the process. This approach is not only a lot of fun because of the element of dynamicity involved, but it also leaves me with the ability to surprise my own self!”

Please enjoy the work images of Kanak Shashi!

"Silent Argument", acrylic on canvas, 3 x 4 feet, 2009

"Altering Histories", acrylic on digital print, 2 x 3 feet, 2009

"God Mother", acrylic on canvas, 3 x 4 feet, 2007

"Altering Histories 4", acrylic on digital print, 2 x 3 feet, 2009

Indian Artist Kalode Rajan Aneesh

Aneesh Kalode Rajan was born in Palghap, Kerala, India in 1986 and is currently living and working there today. In 2005, he earned a B.F.A. in Painting from Govt. College of Fine Arts in Chennai, India. He is specialised in Painting. His works have been shown in exhibitions all over the world, and the most recent exhibitions are:

Group Exhibitions

2011
WHAT RULES? ATER FIRST SHOWING, Nature Morte, Berlin, Germany

2009
Integrating Times, Gallery Blue Spade, Bangalore, India

Never Before, Faraway Tree Gallery, Chennai, India

KINETICS Chithra Kala Parished, Bangalore, India

He says,

“As travels give lot of inspiration for my work and the happenings in those innovates me to works. I represent myself, my memories in the canvas.

And my evolution to conceptualization happened symmetrically. Here I express unique space which gives chances for everyone to have their own dimension with my intervention on it with simplicity.

Believing towards the idea and being executed in the most simplified form is more effective for my thought to be convyed, better than excitements off the work.”

Please enjoy some work images!

"Perspectives", permanent marker on vinyl print, 60 x 48 in, 2010

"Perspectives", Watercolour on paper, 30 x 22 in, 2010

"Bonding With The Environment", silkscreen 355.6 x 50.8 cm, one panel 35.56 x 50.8 cm, 2010

 

Indian Artist Tiku Rajendar

Rajendar Tiku is an Indian Artist currently living and working in Kashmir. In 1978, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Science and Law from Kashmir University, and completed a five-year training in Sculpture from the Institute of Music and Fine Arts in Srinagar. He specialises in sculpture. Rajendar’s works have been exhibited all over the world for many years. Recent exhibitions include:

Selected Exhibitions

2008
Metaphors in Matter Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India

2006
Bronze Lalit kala Akademi organized by Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India

2003
Sculpted Images India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

Rajendar has received Awards and Recognitions, including:

Awards

• The National Award for Sculpture
• 8th triennale-India (International) award for sculpture
• Senior Fellowship of The Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India
• Pollack Krasner Foundation Grant

Roobina Karode wrote about Rejendar in a catalogue essay; an excerpt:

In all the tall claims of heroism manifested in its current gigantism, the danger that art faces most today is of being drowned out by the talk and noise of it. And that art has thrived as meditative presences in silent corners of the house, backyard or in open fields is treated perhaps as history.

Often in the present times, Art is aligned to an aesthetic that overwhelms, petrifies and possesses the human psyche in most haunting ways. But for Rajendar Tiku, his sculpture, must hold its dignity in silence and communicate through even a whisper.

One is moved by the intimacy of his perception that makes the intangible and meditative moments of the everyday visible in the most poignant fragments of his modest-sized creations. Without any figure released from the stone or the block of wood, one confronts the presence of human life in oblique and symbolic ways.

In configuring his ‘part-bone, part-flesh’ assembly of materials via unusual juxtapositions, the working methodology alters between carving, rupturing and suturing, ultimately threading and tying the disparate and disjointed parts to conjoin and coexist. Most importantly, Tiku’s poetic sensibility sublimates reactions to situations of protest, disquiet and vulnerability into an inspiring resilience. Transcending the limits of a specific address and meaning, Tiku’s art gathers the scattered pieces of life and strives to hold them together. What can be more urgent than this in a disintegrating world?

Please enjoy images of Rajendar Tiku’s works!

"The Site - X", dever stone, variable dimensions, 2007

"The Relic", bronze, 16 x 10 x 9 in, 2006

"Hearth Back Home", bronze, 16 x 11 x 13 in, 2008

Indian Artist Sarai Neha Sharma

Sarai Neha Sharma was born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India in 1975, and is currently living and working in New Delhi. Sarai is earned a B.F.A in Painting from Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, Baroda, India as well as an M.F.A. in Printmaking from the same university. As an Artist, Sarai specialises in both painting and printmaking. Exhibitions include:

Group Exhibitions

2008

Harmony, Nehru Center, Mumbai, India

Group Show, Regionale des Beaux Arts, Nantes, France

2007

Artequalated: Group Show, Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India

Environmental workshop with students of Art and Architecture, Rachna Sansad, Mumbai, India

No title, Lemon Grasshopper Gallery, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Workshop and Presentation on Environment, Kashi Art Café/Gallery Cochin, Kerala, India

Sarai says,

“My search is for ways and forms that touch upon the basis-principles of life. I have sought to express an inwardly felt intense flow of colours. In seeking that I feel the subconscious and the meditative come into quiet play. For me they are signs that connect in their geometry and seeming coincidences, as also in their chemistry of colour and substance, to life and its power to create and recreate. Hence my sense of my work is as signs felt in dreams and certain fleeting moments of wakefulness.

Within the lines and mesh structures I draw lies the thought and pathos of my surroundings and me. Lines and colours are for me a way never fully made or completely transparent, towards the universals of abstraction and life. I seek to look at elements that hold and move as also the paradoxes of movement and translation: human beliefs, longings, exodus and return, divisions, identity and a feeling for the universal in things little and small.”

Please enjoy the work images!

"Birds", natural pigment on paper, 111.5 x 158 cm, 2009

"Birds", 75 x 56 cm, 2009

"Earth Lines", natural pigment on paper, 30.8 x 40.8, 2009

"Buried Signs", gauche on paper, 35 x 22 cm, 2009

 

The Space Between – Opening Reception

The Space Between, Oriental VisArt’s third exhibition, began 3 March 2011 with an opening reception / vernissage at 6 p.m. at La Cave in Geneva, Switzerland. We were extremely lucky with the spring-like weather, and guests from around the globe were treated to the works of three Asian artists: Wook Heo (Korea), Can Kang (China) and Kumaresan Selvaraj (India). This was the second exhibition in Geneva for Kumaresan (his works were shown at Threshold to every-day life in October 2010), and the debut in Switzerland for Wook and Cang. Their works were received with curiosity and interest; engaging each guest with a sense of wonder about each Artist’s individual perspective of identity in this fast-developing world. The exhibition will continue everyday at  La Cave until 13 March.

Please enjoy images from our opening reception.

Main entrance of La Cave in Old Town, Geneva

 

Display view 1

 

Display view 2

 

Display view 3

 

Display view 4

 

Display view 5

 

Guests in the Room 2

 

Guests in the Room 1/ ‘Between tiers- cars 282′ by Wook Heo

 

Can Kang’s work ‘Ice age crazy’

 

Wook Heo’s work ‘Between tiers- books 112′

 

Wook Heo’s work ‘Between tiers- football 67′

 

Can Kang’s Works ‘Come back to T’ang in my dream (above)/ ‘Horse doesn’t move (below)

 

Guests

 

Guests and the OVA team

 

Guests

 

Garden of La Cave

 

Reception

 

Guests

 

Guests

 

Young guests

 

Organiser Kayla Hye K. Yang/’What we see conceals a lot behind it’ by Kumaresan Selvaraj

 

Photographed by Iryna Manzhosova

 

Oriental VisArt’s 3rd Exhibition in Geneva

We are pleased to present Oriental VisArt’s third exhibition in Geneva, The Space Between, a group exhibition featuring three different Asian Artists: Wook Heo, Can Kang, and Salvaraj Kumaresan.

The Space Between features works that respond to each artist’s individual perspective of their mercurial identity within a world that is changing rapidly by globalisation and breakneck urbanisation.

The three artists commonly explore how objects, images and surfaces can be viewed in a myriad of ways.  It is not the point to merely create an interpretive framework based on the subject matter, nor on the layers of medium used to create the work.  What each artist strives for is an analysis of what lies between reality and representation; an investigation of The Space Between.  The Space Between represents a connective point between the convergence and divergence of cultural life and identity in contemporary civilisation.

Korean artist Wook Heo finds new space and meaning by analysing and mixing an object from diverse angles. Created in unique form, his work is neither painting nor relief. His work is layered with puzzles to create and combine divided images. His colour fields create new planes, and when layered, form a solid structure. They do not come to a standstill. Planes become solid figures, and solid figures spread out on a two-dimensional surface. Disassembled objects are reassembled, and reassembled things are disassembled again. Elements expand and reduce. His work is full of constantly circulating energy.

The paintings of Can Kang are surreal narratives in response to his native-born China’s own process of internationalization and development. According to the artist, babies are the ultimate symbol of human purity – entering the world simple and unadulterated – and when juxtaposed against a contemporary context Kang transforms pre-existing notions of these symbols, creating a new disposition suggestive of this fanatical age of consumption.

Contrasting meanings collide and circulate in the work of Indian artist Kumaresan Selvaraj. Selveraj is interested in what the surface textures of his chosen medium implies about the ‘subterranean emotions’ of his memories and consciousness, not only of his state of mind now, but historically. The process of his awareness is filled with the energy of contradiction and harmony, and subsequently Selveraj explores mediums to blend diversely contrasting concepts such as matter and non-matter, time and space in his work.

The opening/vernissage takes place this Thursday, 3 March, from 6 p.m. 9 p.m. at La Cave in Geneva.

"Between tiers - football 67" mixed media, 81 x 122 cm, 2010 - Wook Heo

"Telescope", oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm, 2010 - Can Kang

"What We See Conceals A Lot Behind It", ink on magazine paper, 60 x 84 in, 2010 - Salvaraj Kumaresan

 

Indian Artist Galhotra Vibha

Galhotra Vibha was born in Chandigarh, India in 1978 and currently lives and works in New Delhi. In 1999 Galhotra received a B.F.A. in Graphics from the Government College of Arts in Chandigarh, India, and received a M.F.A. in Graphics from Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharti, Santiniketan in 2001. Galhotra specialises in graphics, and shows include:

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008	Metropia	Project 88, Mumbai,India
2006	Where Do We Come From? What are we? Where Are We Going?	Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
2005	Between Me and Delhi	Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
2004	WHITE	Exhibition Hall, Fine Arts Faculty, MS University, Baroda, India
2002	Space within the Space	Siddhartha Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, India
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009	India Xianzai	Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, China
	Group show	Aicon Art Gallery, London, UK
2008	Mutant Beauty	Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
	Zeitgeist	Pallete Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
	ShContemporary 2008 | Best of Discovery	Shanghai, China
	Everywhere Is War (and rumours of war)	Bodhi Art ,Mumbai, India
	Destination Asia: Flying over Stereotypes’ Conversation- 1– artists from Central Asia and South Asia	Elementa, Dubai, UAE
	Walk The Line	Avanthy Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland
	Rethinking Materiality: Group Show	Gallery Espace, New Delhi

Galhotra says,

“I believe that the cyclical nature of events governs our lives. Construction is the event of generation, Destruction of death and Reconstruction of re-birth. Every object has a life, every object has a point when it dissolves back into oblivion from where it came, and eventually it regenerates from the abyss into its own objectivity. The human cycle is attributed to the nothingness we call the absolute, man today has taken on the role of this absolute, believing that we, ourselves can control this cycle of life. My depiction of the same is the events that affect me, that make me question the moralities of today’s world. Words like sustainability and environmental issues seem to remain words in the capitalist dictionary. They are nothing but an antithesis to the actions of construction and destruction.”

Please enjoy the work images!

"Beehive", metal, trinkets & febric, big: 2.1 x 1.5 x 0.3 mtrs, medium: 1.2 x 0.92 x 0.22 mtrs, small: 1.1 x 0.92 x 0.22 mtrs

"Many Times", wood, watches automobile paint & sound, 76 x 28.5 x 21.2 in, 2007

"Work in Pregress", casted metal, variable, 2007

"Master Plan", metal, 60 x 42 x 10 in, 2008

Indian Artist Lodh Shantanu

Lodh Shantu was born in Kolkata, India in 1968. He now currently lives and works in Delhi, India and specialises in painting. In 1993 he earned a B.F.A. at Shantiniketan in West Bengal, India. In 1995 he earned his M.F.A. at Shantiniketan in West Bengal, India. His work has been seen at the following exhibitions:

Group Exhibitions
2010	The Drifters	Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, India
2009	The Drifters	Art Konsult, New Delhi, India
	Classic Colonial Tales	Anant Art, India
2007	No title	Newark Museum, Newark. USA

He says,

“Growing up and living in this world of unjustified conflicts and contradictions, successes and failures…

My earlier works were quite reactive, in the sense that I reacted with craving and aversion towards the object of my expression in my artworks, which made me feel confident about their choice, but definitely frustrated me as the goal was to spread the similar political subjectivity all around. This practice did produce many eye-catching, hard-hitting projects as in public art projects, photographs, videos, posters and performance…

The previous series of paintings were called Classic Colonial Tales, they were mostly black and white, oil on canvas, and quite large in size, created by juxtaposing my family photographs and pictures of Queen Victoria downloaded from the net.

Thereafter I started attending 10-day Vipassana courses, which gave, rise to new esthetic questions and inspirations.

This gave birth to the ongoing series of painting. These are again black and white, gouache on paper. I was inspired by psychedelic art, Buddhist art and Chinese landscape painting. This ongoing series is not a critic as my earlier works were but emphasizes the meditative/hallucinatory aspect of painting. I take photographs of these and mirror them to produce an effect of near symmetry, near balance and the slowness of Intelligent Dance Music by painting in very thin layers. I have intentionally removed color from the paintings to attain an essence closer to Chinese landscape painting, which reduced distraction and seduction; I have also removed linear narratives which were quite central to my earlier works to produce a kind of Now and here, where the mind would not meander into the Past or Future. I am in a transition, as the ongoing experiments in art and sustained meditation in life will definitely lead to unknown quarters of the mind worth exploring as a newcomer to this zone of Mindfulness.”

Please enjoy images of his works:

 

“Humpty Dumpty II”, watercolor on paper, 26 x 20 in, 2009

 

Watercolour on paper, 26 x 20 in, 2009

 

“Man Eater”, watercolour on paper, 26 x 20 in, 2009

 

“Mask”, watercolor on paper, 26 x 20 in,  2009

 

 

 

Indian Artist Upadhyay Chintan

Upadhyay Chintan was born in Partapur, Rajasthan, India in 1972 and is currently living and working in Mumbai, India. He received a B.F.A. in Painting from Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.U Baroda in Gujarat, India in 1995. In 1997, he received his M.F.A. in Painting from the same university. In 2000-01, he received Gadi schloarship, NLKA, New Delhi, India, and in 2004 was awarded Charles Wallace Foundation Award for a residency in Bristol, UK. His work has been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout India, as well as over the world:

Solo Exhibitions

2008

Metastasis Of Signs, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India

2007

Tentuaa Dabaa Do (Kill Her), Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India

2006

I Want to Be an International Artist, Seoul Art Center, Korea

Mutants, Sarjan Art Gallery, Gujarat, India

Baar Baar, Har Baar, Kitni Baar?, Sarjan Art Gallery, Gujarat, India

Clone Vithalla, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai, India

2005

Maya, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai, India

2004

Conker’s Installation Project, Spike Island, Bristol, UK

Designer Babies, Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery, Mumbai, India

Group Exhibitions

2007

Have You Eaten Yet?, Asian Art Biennial, Taiwan, Japan

Beijing Art Fair, Art Fair, Beijing, China

Here & Now: Contemporary voices from India, Grosvenor Gallery, London, UK

2006

Satyagraha A group exhinbition by South African and Indian Artists, Travanore Art Gallery, New Delhi, India and Kizo Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa

“Pink Shop” Part of Hybrid Trends, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, Korea

Bombay Maximum City, Lille 3000, Lille, Frace

‘I am a slut’ a collaborative Video and performance with Amit Kekre, Gallery Beyond, Mumbai, India

KAAM, Arts India Gallery, New York, USA

KAAM, ArtsIndia West, St. Palo Alto, California

Annual show, Sakshi Art Gallery, Mumbai, India

2005

India/Australia cultural and regional exchange, KikArts Gallery, COCA. Perth, Australia

Sanjeev Khandekar has this to say about Chintan:

Our new world of transgenic realities and virtual possibilities has made it possible to have a new order for the world. This new order is precisely the contestation that Chintan wants to put forward through his works. Hyper-reality is the new order of the real, or ‘ireal’ is the new real, is the polemic that he offers through his more recent works.

For Chintan, the sculptures and his paintings serve as units of cultural information, symbols of political memes, kind of cyber game objects, substance-less, disinvested of material, inertia opening up the possibilities of new realms of reality.

All of his works strike a strange angle, as a built in architecture, or as if default system, what hits your eyes every time is the infantile visage, with the globus fat head and the conspicuous genitals of the body, making a weird and wonderful relationship between head and genitals apparent. Once we understand the limits of viewer’s gaze, the ideolological and fantasmatic coordinates of his works in the matrix of the late capitalist, consumerist contemporary society get denoted, and find their location.

Smart Alec is his new real, a copy of the copy, without an original, It stands for a symbol of New Man. Smart Alec is predicament and a dilemma, his desire and death. Smart Alec is new myth that Chintan is building, predicative of outmoded utopia of renewal of perception.

(This is an extract of an essay written by Sanjeev Khandekar, on Chintan Upadhyay’s recent works for private circulation. Sanjeev Khandekar is a visual artist, poet and writer. He lives and works in Mumbai.)

Metastasis Of Signs

Writer and independent curator, Johny ML, weighed in on Chintan’s works as well:

Once detached from the zones of production, signs gain independence from the ideology of their producers and start accumulating values that operate between the logics of the intentional and the experiential. Any society that consumes the signs while replicating the intentional ideology of the producers, also replicates the values created out of the consuming experience and these values proliferate in the social body as the cancerous cells ‘spill over’ from the zone of origin to other parts, conveniently passed through the unsuspecting mediums. This metastasis, a term Chintan Upadhyay adopts from the discourse of human pathology, effectively transcends from the realm of pathology to the realm of culture. Signs could be as polemical as the cancerous cells, not to mention the process of metastasis which could be even worse…

Please enjoy some images of his works!

“Chintu”, Oil & Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in, 2010

 

“Memory”, oil & acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in

 

“Moon Child”, Oil & Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in, 2010

 

“Take Me Home”, oil & acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 in