Saturday, January 24, 2015

Art tribute to Sachin Tendulkar


I believe every Indian has that one moment experienced in their life to share with the world - that moment about Sachin Tendulkar. My moment is Sachin Tendulkar's victory lap in 2011 world cup at Wankhade Stadium Mumbai.
 
I had the opportunity to relive that moment again at Deconstructed Innings, at NGMA. The ten artists GR Iranna, Hema Upadhyay, Jagannath Panda, Manjunath Kamath, Remen Chopra, Riyas Komu, Shreyas Karle, Sunil Gawde, Trilochan Anand and Vibha Galhotra have expressed their gratitude to Sachin Tendulkar in form of art at NGMA, Mumbai. Deconstructed Innings is like a walk through biography of our little master blaster.
 
I complimented Sunil Gawde on his work 'Pause'.  I was a little fascinated by 'Pause' because I thought it was a moment not only from Sachin's life, but from every middle class guy who grew up playing cricket and breaking the glasses of the windows in the neighbourhood. I have had my house windows breaking by bunch of kids playing cricket.

Art Lovers and Sachin worshippers do visit NGMA before 15th February 2015.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Ravi Mandlik


I was recommended by an art lover/collector /Curator, that Ravi Mandlik works are a must for study, especially for an amateur artist like me. To my luck I made it on a Sunday with a friend of mine. I reached before her so I had much more time to get mesmerized by the paintings. They had the soothing effect on me. 

Often my friends, who don’t understand art have asked me, how do you know which is a good painting and which is not,  especially if it’s abstract art/modern art.  To them I always say, that for me any painting that is soothing to my eyes and relaxes me, are the ones that I like. And usually they are paintings with colors used in a manner that makes me feel life is beautiful.  His paintings were reassuring just like nature, that world is beautiful.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Wonder Of It All - Saakti Burman


Last week I was at the Jehangir Art Gallery. I saw the works of Sakti Burman. I got a little lost in his works. 
When I say that, I literary mean that. When you look at his work you might like it, but when you go close to his work, you can get lost in it, the texturing is brilliant. Each figure has a different texturing. Still they blend in so well to give the effect it gives. 




Sunday, February 26, 2012

Agni - Ila Pal



I was at the Hirji Jahangir At Gallery. I saw the paintings which had one of the five elements 'Agni.' The artist managed to capture various aspects of fire. It could be fierce, destructive, enlightening, sparkling, glowing. She also tries to take the different forms of fire. Gazing at this painting I felt the fire might just come alive out of the canvas.

I wasn't able to find the photograph of my favorite painting, that was the 'Mukti'. It looked like the lightening from the sky touching the ground that might just set the ground on fire.

I was so attracted to Ila Pal's work that I went up to the gallery the second time hoping to meet her, but better luck next time.

Ascending figures - K. S. Radhakrishnan


Being an art lover, the first thing I do when I enter a city is, I start looking for art galleries. I was informed that Focus Art Gallery is one of the good art galleries in Chennai. When I stepped into the gallery I had a deja vu. I had seen similar work at Jahangir Art Gallery a couple of years back. I was informed that I missed the artist (K. S. Radhakrishnan) by just few minutes, he was leaving for Delhi that very day.



His Musui and Maiya  at times are childlike, and are like telling us to join them.

When I look at the web created by human figures, I feel absence of gravity, as if they want to fly away, but the earthly bonds keep them grounded. Or perhaps the soul is trying to fly away, but their bond to other living souls and earthly materials holds them in mid air.



Though none of the wonderful 'Ramp' work of art was there, I have to mention it here. One of his ramps I had seen at Jahangir Art Gallery in Mumbai. The Ramp makes one feel at the 5th level of Actualization of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If not at least depicts the artist's deasire to be there.


Friday, February 17, 2012

Verdant Vistas The World of Surya Prakash




What could have been a better way to celebrate a Valentine’s Day for an Art Lover? I visited the art exhibition at the Tao Art Gallery at Worli. The landscapes had a mesmerizing effect on me.   My first impression was fantasies merging into Nature.

The striking colors so perfectly placed. As if they were meant to be, just the way god wanted it to be. On a closure study, it reminded me of two eras: Impressionism and pointism. But at the same time I could not distinctly categorize it under either of the two eras. Surely there was resemblance but not the same.

Later I read on the Artist’s CD, he calls it ‘abstracted reality.’ I couldn’t have got a better term to categorize it. Just the way I felt, fantasies merging into reality.

Staying in a city like Mumbai, one craves for a patch of green and here you have nature with shades from your dream.  The colors have a cooling and relaxing effect. I like seeing the paintings by blurring my eyes from a distance. It makes me the see the colors merging into each other gradually changing shades and colors.

No Parking - Venkatesh Pate



I never thought black and white could have such an Enchanting effect.  I have come to realize in the world of art black and white are equivalent to zero and one from the Mathematics world (computer world). What is most striking is the artist’s knowledge in Anatomy.  And I could not stop admiring the brilliant use of the masking technique.

The artist Venkatesh Pate is from Mumbai, an over populated city. The skylines changes every day, the number of cars increases every day, lives are entangled and there is a growing chaos everywhere.  I could sense the need of space, just what I crave for once I step out of my enclaves.

How an artist can express such a subtle feeling so strongly, leaving admirers gazing at his work.