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Palette of portraits

LEAVING AN IMPRESSION The art and photography exhibitions capture myriad themes and forms

A round-up of three exhibitions in the city — The Moderns, Neo Goa: Coast to Canvas and Art, Space and the City:

The Moderns at Gallery Mementos features four distinguished artists — Akbar Padamsee, F.N. Souza, Ram Kumar and S.H. Raza, sponsored by Kingfisher.

The exhibition features artists who broke conventional norms. Their vision was to “paint with absolute freedom for content and technique. The group moved away from the predominant Revivalist Nationalist agenda of The Bengal School and established distinctive modernist styles with reference to expressionism, gesture abstraction from the School of Paris.”

The group was founded in 1947 by F.N. Souza, K.H. Ara, S.K. Bhakre, M.F. Husain, H.A. Gade and S.H. Raza.

Apart from the six founder members, one can also count V.S. Gaitonde, Krishen Khanna, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta, Ram Kumar and Bal Chabda. Akbar Padamsee’s clean clear-cut style of forms and marks leave a deep impression in the way the female body has been depicted. The nude female body is a contour of forms.

The languorous female form, captures both the essence and character in honesty, using charcoal on paper. The reclining, frontal, side-profile nude women and the captivating face of women capture women in an honest and clean light, devoid of voyeurism.

Ram Kumar’s sandy hues take over his canvasses with patchwork strokes of blues, brows and greys hints at landscapes of mountains and rivers with acrylic on paper.

The late Francis Newton Souzafrontal nude woman didn’t have much space, which was a pity as he was a characteristic, versatile artist with a stalwart style of pronounced outlines and defining shapes.

Syed Haider Raza draws from cosmology in his sharp geometric shapes using acrylics on paper with stunning blues of moons and the universe suggest a modernist transcendentalism. Raza also throws in deep reds and oranges which are separated strokes that gradually merge in subsequent paintings.

The exhibition is on till December 16, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Gallery Mementos, The Chancery, No. 10/6, Lavelle Road. Call 65469627.

“Neo Goa: Coast to Canvas” at Gallery G are canvasses within canvasses, bringing a plethora of different artists from the region including Francis D’ Souza, Jayant Jadhav, Sandeep Kulkarni, Manish Mistry, Prafulli Shevade and Suhas Shilker. The gamut of forms and styles explored is a rich tapestry of colours and energy. In collaboration with Ruchika Art Gallery in Goa, this representation of Goan art is said to have “…everything to do with the ‘rurbanism’ unique also to Goan literature, music and design. (Rurbanism refers to the culture of places like the West Indies where rural and urban lifestyles are similar).”

Manish Mistry’s huge canvasses use acrylic on canvas, with running patterns and textures finding difference in different hues of greens and browns. Prafulli Shevade who uses acrylic, dotted with minute paper cuttings in rows and columns like a film covers an apple in different positions. Vitesh Naik’s “Tears behind Laugh”-2 and 3 explore the stage and the clown in elegant browns and reds. Sandeep Kulkarni’s acrylic on canvasses “Illusion” 5 and 6 explores the mind in blue and green, and Jayant Jadhav’s modernist strict geometric shapes, a contrasting palette of colours that challenge the eyes to view. Chaitali Morajkar’s untitled watercolours on paper are exceptional, women with broad necks, painted in browns find themselves merging with fish. Hitesh Pankar’s “Queen of Hearts” and “Mermaid” using mixed media of gold foil with acrylic and acrylic on canvas are again imaginative.

The exhibition is on till December 9, Gallery G, Maini Sadan, 7th Cross, off Lavelle Road. Call 22219275.

When it comes to capturing public and some not-so-public spaces for art, “Art, Space and the City” at the Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan wins. Six photographers — Clare Arni, Jyothy Karat, Rudra Rakshit Sharan, Vinayak Das, Vivek M. and Vivek Singh find their own spaces in Bangalore to shoot art as it is practised.

Rudra Rakshit Sharan looks at horse-racing, poetically capturing the jockeys, grooming and racing from innovative angles — in between hooves, horse-shoes, stables, betting, prizes and more. Vivek M. captures the juxtaposition in lifestyles, architecture and neighbourhoods with art found in mundane, everyday elements. Vivek Singh shoots natural night light against artificial street lamps, hotels and roadside hawkers and Jyothi Karat visualises cultural spaces of both Indian and Western dance — Bharatanatya and ballet in movement.

Religion and celebration on the streets like the Draupadi Amman, Murugan Kavadi, St. Mary’s Basilica and Muharram find voice in bright red, yellow and blue images captured by Clare Arni. Vinayak Das follows Rajasthani street artists as they go around the city, making and selling their artworks.

The exhibition is on till December 19, Max Mueller Bhavan, No. 716 CMH Road, Indiranagar 1st Stage. Call 25205305.

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